THE PROBLEM OF POPULATION 1 1. Introduction: static and dynamic problems of economics. 1 2.. A static economy. 1 3. Dynamics and the social point of view. 1 4. Rhythmic change and cumulative change. 1 5. Some forces making for change. 1 6. Population-change as a dynamic force. 1 7. The Malthu elan doctrine. 1 8. Tendency versus actuality. 1 9. Food limit versus moral restraint. 1 10. Inadequate recognition of psychic factors. 1 11. The overplus of blossom. 1 12. Limit of the food supply. i 13. Eater and eaten. 1 14. Features of the biologic stage. i 15. Primitive popu lations in the biologic stage. § 16. War and the pressure of population.
§ 1. Introduction : static and dynamic problems of eco nomics. We have now to shift our point of view from that we have held thus far and, in concluding this volume, we are to survey our subject more broadly and with a somewhat dif ferent purpose. Our study of value began with individual choice and we have followed this process of individual choice in its manifold workings in the various problems of value and price. Men in their economic affairs are never absolutely at rest either in mind or in body. (See Chapter 4, especially section 6 on changes of desires and of valuations.) Desires wax and wane every day, and each day goods for daily exist ence and gratification must be secured through the labor and wealth of the community, even in the most unchanging form of society. Each individual is seeking to find the best adjust ment for himself—a never-ending process. If for a moment (and in so far as) this is attained, there results an equilib rium for each individual, where he has no motive to change.
This process of the individual's adjustment is a part of a 399 larger adjustment; his change goes on within a larger process of change, that of society as a whole. There is a real need, however, to distinguish in many economic problems between that play of individual motives and forces which merely re sults in maintaining a status quo, and that which transforms the whole society into, or carries it to, a different condition. The one is a static adjustment, the other a dynamic adjust ment, or process. To draw an analogy: the human body
between about the ages of twenty and forty is constantly renewing itself, is the seat of ceaseless processes, yet is com paratively static, is changing only slowly. Earlier was the dynamic period of childhood's growth, and later will be that of age's decline. So an economy may through long periods show slight changes, and again, rapid changes either upward or downward in respect to any feature.
Where the whole economic situation is one of balanced forces, giving a comparatively stable adjustment of labor and wealth, and of prices, it is a static situation. And an eco nomic society where this stable condition is normal is a static § 2. A static economy. Let us form a picture of a static economy. The number of persons is unchanged from genera tion to generation. Each year the number of births is just balanced by the number of deaths. The average natural abil ity of the new born must be just equal to that of the deceased, and that this should be so, either there must be no differences whatever in the natural ability of the families, or each class and family of the population must contribute in the same ratio to the number of surviving children. The industrial education and training of each oncoming generation is the same as that of the last, and this extends to every faculty of the mind and habit of life that affects thrift, industry, and choice of goods. Minor variations in particular families might offset each other and maintain an unchanged average. The population of a static economy is in quantity and quai 1 See note on Definitions at end of chapter.
ity like a reservoir of water fed by a pipe at an even rate and having an outlet of just the same capacity, so that the level and quality remain unaltered.
In a static economy the production of goods from year to year is the same in kind, quality, and quantity. Seasonal changes within the year cause many values to move up and down, but such changes as this—each year the same and com pleting their cycle within the year—are accounted a mark of a static rather than of a dynamic economy.