1800: The present high price of provisions
In this work, his first published pamphlet, Malthus argues against the notion prevailing in his locale that the greed of intermediaries caused the high price of provisions. Instead, Malthus says that the high price stems from the Poor Laws, which "increase the parish allowances in proportion to the price of corn." Thus, given a limited supply, the Poor Laws force up the price of daily necessities. However, he concludes by saying that in time of scarcity such Poor Laws, by raising the price of corn more evenly, actually produce a beneficial effect.[75]
1814: Observations on the effects of the Corn Laws
Although government in Britain had regulated the prices of grain, the Corn Laws originated in 1815. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars that year, Parliament passed legislation banning the importation of foreign corn into Britain until domestic corn cost 80 shillings per quarter. The high price caused the cost of food to increase and caused distress among the working classes in the towns. It led to serious rioting in London and to the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester in 1819.[76][77]
In this pamphlet, printed during the parliamentary discussion, Malthus tentatively supported the free-traders. He argued that given the increasing cost of growing British corn, advantages accrued from supplementing it from cheaper foreign sources.
1820: Principles of political economy
In 1820 Malthus published Principles of Political Economy. (A second edition was posthumously published in 1836.) Malthus intended this work to rival Ricardo's Principles (1817).[78] It, and his 1827 Definitions in political economy, defended Sismondi's views on "general glut" rather than Say's Law, which in effect states "there can be no general glut".[79]
Other publications
- 1807. A letter to Samuel Whitbread, Esq. M.P. on his proposed Bill for the Amendment of the Poor Laws. Johnson and Hatchard, London.
- 1808. Spence on Commerce. Edinburgh Review 11, January, 429–448.
- 1808. Newneham and others on the state of Ireland. Edinburgh Review 12, July, 336–355.
- 1809. Newneham on the state of Ireland, Edinburgh Review 14 April, 151–170.
- 1811. Depreciation of paper currency. Edinburgh Review 17, February, 340–372.
- 1812. Pamphlets on the bullion question. Edinburgh Review 18, August, 448–470.
- 1813. A letter to the Rt. Hon. Lord Grenville. Johnson, London.
- 1817. Statement respecting the East-India College. Murray, London.
- 1821. Godwin on Malthus. Edinburgh Review 35, July, 362–377.
- 1823. The Measure of Value, stated and illustrated
- 1823. Tooke – On high and low prices. Quarterly Review, 29 (57), April, 214–239.
- 1824. Political economy. Quarterly Review 30 (60), January, 297–334.
- 1829. On the measure of the conditions necessary to the supply of commodities. Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom. 1, 171–180. John Murray, London.
- 1829. On the meaning which is most usually and most correctly attached to the term Value of a Commodity. Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom. 2, 74–81. John Murray.
