Prologue: opening the door on Malthus's rollercoaster -- Before Malthus: population, economy and environment in eighteenth century England -- Prophets of perfection: a revolutionary triptych -- The first inconvenient truth: Malthus's essay and the quiet revolution of 1798 -- "Diarrhoea of the...

This reader in the history of economic thought challenges the assumption that today's prevailing economic theories are always the most appropriate ones. As Leland Yeager has pointed out, unlike the scientists of the natural sciences, economists provide their ideas largely to politicians and...