Ideologies in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and Thomas Malthus' Essay Term Paper

Ideologies in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and Thomas Malthus' Essay on Population - Term Paper Example Although the ideologies presented by both the authors tend to focus on the implications of the classical theory, there are certain differences that can be observed in terms of the ideologies presented through these publications related with human nature as well as freedom and morality. Focusing on these aspects, the objective of the discussion henceforth is intended to compare and contrast the views presented by Adam Smith and by Thomas Malthus through their publications respectively. Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations’ and Thomas Malthus’s ‘Essay on Population’ It can be observed that the early classical economists, such as Adam Smith as well as Thomas Malthus stated the fact that business cycles function because of alterations in population in reaction to the availability of the resources, capability of the capitalists to exploit the labor, socio-psychological mass associations, unanticipated business inventories as well as public confidence (Ma lthus, 1798). Ideology for human nature Adam Smith was of the opinion that the number of the labors within an economy is directly proportional to the wealth of the nation. Moving in-depth towards human contribution for economic wealth creation, he further assumed the fact that human beings can be motivated emphasizing on their self-interest treating it to be the most powerful motive in human behavior’ (Coase, 2010). While, on the other hand, it was opined by Malthus that increase in labor would restrain the resources within an economy acclaiming a diverse relation with the aspect of economic wealth creation (Malthus, 1798). However, with regards to the explanation of Malthus, a contradictory view can be obtained with reference to the statement of Adam Smith, where he narrates that capital can be stimulated by frugality and every frugal man is a public benefactor (Smith, 1776). In his words, â€Å"This frugality and good conduct, however, is, upon most occasions, it appears f rom experience, sufficient to compensate, not only the private prodigality and misconduct of individuals but the public extravagance of government† (pp. 280). As per the views of Malthus (1798), the economic condition of the person is likely to worsen with the pace of time majorly because of innovations making difficult to maintain a pace with the needs of the human population. Furthermore, it was observed by the author that the rate of population growth generally can be observed at a geometric rate unlike the growth of food production which can be examined at an arithmetic rate. Thomas Malthus was also of the opinion that capitalism generally leads to a disparity in the distribution of income apparently contradicting that frugality can be of great significance to overall economic growth (University of California Museum of Palaeontology, 2012). However, it needs to be mentioned in this regards that Adam Smith also did not render much significance to the aspect of frugality in human nature explaining a moderate inclusion of the aspect in the economic growth process (Smith, 1776).