There are numerous global challenges in the current world. The enormous increase in population growth faces different contradicting opinions. There are worrying levels of poverty and struggle for resources doomed to increase if population growth is not controlled. On the other hand, increase in population growth is speculated as a chance of increase in innovation.
Analysts speculate that the world’s population will increase with a billion people in the next decade if the current population growth carries on. There are various perspectives regarding the issue of population growth. Different people raise different opinions and facts regarding the issue of population growth. The thesis of my essay is to analyze the reasonable facts and opinions among the Neo-Malthusians, Marxists and Cornucopianists.
The Neo-Malthusians economic theory simulates the pressure exerted by man through population growth towards the availability of resources. Malthus theory assumes that population growth leads to depletion of food among other necessary resources. Malthus associated man with a strong desire for food and a strong passion between sexes. Thus, Malthus believed that the world’s population was increasing at a faster rate than the level of food supply. He argued that with proper restriction towards population growth, there would be depletion of scarce resources. Malthus explained the existence of population control structures, which include preventive checks and positive checks.
Preventive checks towards excessive population growth include voluntary decisions towards population growth. For instance, couples may make decisions on the number of children that they will have according to their financial ability. On the other hand, positive checks include natural occurrences that limit population outburst. These occurrences include famine, diseases and wars (Sunderlin, 2002).
The Marxists theory of population growth opposes the Neo-Malthusian theory. The theory defines the existence of a capitalistic system of economy. This theory explains the role of a Marxists in an economy experiencing population growth where resources are distributed, with the capitalists earning the lion share. The capitalist provides the necessary capital required in production. In return, the capitalist gives a small portion of the gains as wage to laborers, and he takes the lion share. The capitalist further brings more machinery into the economy. This increases the quantity of production and reduces the labor required. Thus, this situation creates a labor reserve reducing the level of wages. The Marxist theory simulates that individuals with excess available resources should share with those who have limited resources. For instance, in the current world economy, developed countries often offer food aids to poor countries (Blackledge, 2006).
The Cornuopian theory simulates that population growth is a positive things which leads to improvements in technology and innovations. The theory speculates that the world has the potential to speculate its peak population. However, the theory explains the possibility of a population growth limit due to the depletion of finite resources, and the damage or over usage of renewable resources. The theory explains that the most important value of population growth is the creation of resources rather than limiting the consumption of resources through population control. The Cornuopian theory argues that nature should be used rather than preserved (Gilbert, 2006).
The Neo-Malthusians argument that poverty and population growth go hand in hand is not substantially true. To support my argument, the Neo-Malthusians changed their view of population growth and poverty, when they learnt the positive effects of population growth to the economy. They discovered that population growth can lead to positive outcomes if the right economical policies are set. For instance, high fertility rates increased the number of children relatively equal to number of adults working. Thus, if the economy invests its future infrastructure and development funds to support the health care, education, food and housing needs of the children, the economy will improve. This is because the money invested by families into long-term family savings will be invested into the economy. Thus, the effect of increase in birth rates would lead to positive economic changes (Fine, Saad-Filho & Boffo, 2012).
Marxists argument that population growth is not bad if the available resources are shared adequately, requires proper strategies to be realized. Developed countries with extra available resources should share with the developing countries with limited resources. However, the participation of developed countries in administration and policy implementation should help reduce poverty levels. Thus, developed countries should facilitate the spread of family planning policies through both government and non-governmental organizations in the developing countries. This will in turn increase the economic potential of these countries (Fine, Saad-Filho & Boffo, 2012).
Cornucopianists argument that population growth is a good thing, and it should not be regulated is not fully applicable. Although population growth brings along new technological innovations and talents, if not controlled it may lead to an economical disaster. However, through proper policies, population growth can achieve economical growth. Thus, population growth does not increase poverty if proper policies are initiated.
References
Attfield, R. (1991). The ethics of environmental concern. Athens, Ga: University of Georgia Press.
Fine, B., Saad-Filho, A., & Boffo, M. (2012). The Elgar companion to Marxist economics. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Sunderlin, W. D. (2002). Ideology, social theory, and the environment. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Blackledge, P. (2006). Reflections on the Marxist theory of history. Manchester [u.a.: Manchester Univ. Press.
Gilbert, G. (2006). World population: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif., [etc.: ABC-CLIO.
