Keynes on population and economic growth

Abstract

This paper provides an account of the development of Keynes's writings on population, the subject which many of his contemporaries saw as his intellectual Achilles' heel. In particular, it shows the central role of Keynes's unpublished manuscript entitled ‘Population’ in the evolution of his later work on this topic (i.e. chap. II of The Economic Consequences of Peace and his biographical essay on Malthus). This has hitherto been underestimated. The content of Keynes's early neo-Malthusianism is explored. His defeat in debate with Beveridge in 1923–24 and the phases of his subsequent recantation of neo-Malthusianism are then considered, as are his views on birth control. The paper concludes with an assessment of whether Schumpeter's negative judgement of Keynes on population can be sustained.

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