Malthus developed the theory of demand-supply mismatches that he called gluts. Discounted at the time, this theory foreshadowed later work by an admirer, John Maynard Keynes.[80]
The vast bulk of continuing commentary on Malthus, however, extends and expands on the "Malthusian controversy" of the early 19th century. In Ireland where (writing to Ricardo in 1817) Malthus proposed that "to give full effect to the natural resources of the country a great part of the population should be swept from the soil into large manufacturing and commercial Towns",[81] [82] a comparatively early contribution was Observations on the population and resources of Ireland (1821) by the polymath and physician Whitely Stokes.[83] Finding fault in Malthus's calculations and juxtapositions--"the possible increase of man in America" measured against "the probable increase in [food] production in Great Britain"—and insisting upon the advantages mankind derives from "improved industry, improved conveyance, improvements in morals, government and religion", Stokes argued that Ireland's difficulty lay not in her "numbers", but in indifferent government.[84]
