Thomas Robert Malthus

Writing before the industrial revolution, Malthus could not fully appreciate the impact of technology (i.e., pesticides, refrigeration, mechanized farm equipment, and increased crop yields) on food production. Further discrediting his claims is the fact that life expectancy has nearly doubled, from forty years during his time to over seventy years today. Although starvation persists, it is more often political upheaval, not population growth, that keeps people hungry.

Although Malthus predicted disastrous undersupply of commodities in the long run, he believed there could be a general oversupply in the short run. These oversupplies, which he called "gluts," are now called recessions or depressions.