3 Video Views·Mar 12, 2025
There are now eight billion people living on the planet. Is there enough room for all of us? Are we going to run out of food and other resources? Marian Tupy, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and co-author of Superabundance, examines whether or not these fears are valid. His answer may surprise you.
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Script:
There are now eight billion people living on the planet.
Is there enough room for all of us? Aren’t we going to run out of natural resources? How are we going to feed everybody?
These are not new questions. Doomsayers have been asking them for at least 200 years.
In 1798, an English economist named Thomas Malthus, wrote his famous Essay on the Principle of Population. In it, Malthus claimed that population grew exponentially, while resources needed to feed that population grew at a linear rate.
The difference between the two growth rates, he argued, must lead to starvation.
Malthus was wrong. And not by a little; by a lot. As the population grew, food production improved … and so did almost everything else.
Consider the life of a typical American blue-collar worker over the span of a century. Using a unit of measurement known as time prices, we can estimate the amount of time someone would have to work to buy a given item.
Between 1900 and 2018, the length of time our blue-collar worker had to work to earn enough money to buy a pound of pork fell by 98%, to buy a pound of rice by 97%, to buy a pound of coffee, 94%.
While people can’t eat rubber, aluminum, or cotton, these commodities are valuable inputs in the production processes that impact the prices of goods and services, and hence the overall standard of living. Their prices fell by 99%, 98% and 96% respectively — while the population of the United States rose from 76 million to 328 million.
Famines, which were once common, have disappeared outside of war zones. In much of the world today, it’s obesity not starvation, that’s a problem.
This relationship between population growth and abundance may seem counterintuitive, but it’s true.
Remember this chart that so frightened Malthus? The reality looks very different.
The more people we have, the more abundance we have. Relative to previous generations, we now live in a world of superabundance — the term that my colleague and co-author, Gale Pooley and I have coined and use as the title of our book.
What makes this superabundance possible?
The answer is knowledge.
Thomas Sowell, the brilliant Hoover Institution economist, explains it this way:
The difference in the standard of living between the cavemen and us is not natural resources. The difference is knowledge. We have a lot more of it. And we use that knowledge to make things from the same natural resources that existed during the time of the cavemen, but which the caveman could never have imagined.
Let’s look at something as simple as a grain of sand. It has been lying around for billions of years. Then, some 4,500 years ago, someone figured out that by heating sand to just over 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, sand could be turned into glass beads, then glass jars, and much later, windowpanes.
With every step of discovery, the value produced from a grain of sand increased. Today, we use glass in fiber optic cables and computer microchips, turbocharging our productivity, thus making us much more prosperous than our ancestors.
Counting the quantity of known raw materials, like Malthus and many other people have done, might seem logical, but it misses the ingredient that changes everything: knowledge.
And new knowledge emerges from the human mind. A newborn comes into the world not only with an empty stomach, but also a brain capable of intelligent, potentially world-changing thought.
So, what really matters is not the finite number of atoms on the planet, be they of copper or zinc or any other element, but the human ability to combine and recombine those atoms in ever more valuable ways.
Therefore, we can confidently say that economic growth is less about resources, which are limited, and more about knowledge, which is limitless.
As the Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Romer put it, new ideas “do not add up. They multiply.”
For the full script, visit: https://www.prageru.com/video/the-myth-of-overpopulation
there are now 8 billion people living on
the planet
is there enough room for all of us
aren't we going to run out of Natural
Resources
how are we going to feed everybody
these are not new questions
doomsayers have been asking them for at
least 200 years
in 1798 an English Economist named
Thomas Malthus wrote his famous essay on
the principle of population
in it Malthus claimed that population
grew exponentially while resources
needed to feed that population grew at a
linear rate the difference between the
two growth rates he argued must lead to
starvation Mathis was wrong and not by a
little by a lot
as the population grew food production
improved and so did almost everything
else
consider the life of a typical American
blue-collar worker over the span of a
century
using a unit of measurement known as
time prices we can estimate the amount
of time someone would have to work to
buy a given item between 1900 and 2018
the length of time are blue collar
worker had to work to earn enough money
to buy a pound of pork fell by 98
percent
to buy a pound of rice by 97 to buy a
pound of coffee 94 while people can't
eat rubber aluminum or cotton these
Commodities are valuable inputs in the
production processes that impact the
prices of goods and services and hence
the overall standard of living their
prices fell by 99 98 and 96 respectively
while population of the United States
Rose from 76 million to 328 million
famines which were once common have
disappeared outside of War zones in much
of the world today its obesity not
starvation that is a problem
this relationship between population
growth and abundance may seem
counter-intuitive but it's true remember
this chart that so frightened Malthus
the reality looks very different the
more people we have the more abundance
we have relative to previous generations
we now live in a world of super
abundance the term that my colleague and
co-author Gail pulley and I have coined
and used as the title of our book what
makes this super abundance possible
the answer is knowledge
Thomas Soule the brilliant Hoover
institution Economist explains it this
way the difference in the standard of
living between the caveman and us is not
natural resources the difference is
knowledge
we have a lot more of it
and we use that knowledge to make things
from the same natural resources that
existed during the time of the caveman
but which the caveman could never have
imagined
let's look at something as simple as a
grain of sand
it's been lying around for billions of
years then some four and a half thousand
years ago someone figured out that by
heating sand to just over 3000 degrees
Fahrenheit
sand could be turned into glass beads
then glass jars and much later window
panes
with every step of Discovery the value
produced from a grain of sand increased
today we use glass in fiber optic cables
and computer microchips turbocharging
our productivity thus making us much
more prosperous than our ancestors
counting the quantity of known raw
materials like Malthus and many other
people have done might seem logical but
it misses the ingredient that changes
everything knowledge
and new knowledge emerges from the human
mind
a newborn comes into the world not only
with an empty stomach but also a brain
capable of intelligent potentially
world-changing thought
so what really matters is not the finite
number of atoms on the planet be they of
zinc or copper or any other element
the human ability to combine and
recombine those atoms in ever more
valuable ways
therefore we can confidently say that
economic growth is less about resources
which are limited and more about
knowledge which is Limitless
as the Nobel Prize Money Economist Paul
Romer put it new ideas do not add up
they multiply
here's another useful analogy
the world is a closed system in the way
that a piano is a closed system the
instrument has only 88 keys but those
keys can be played in an infinite number
of ways
the same applies to our planet the
Earth's atoms may be fixed but the
possible combinations of those atoms are
infinite
what matters then is not the physical
limits of our planet
but the human beings and their freedom
to experiment and reimagine the use of
resources that we have
can we continue to live in a super
abundant world
that depends on two components people
and freedom
the more people the planet has and the
more freedom they enjoy the greater the
likelihood that new useful ideas will be
generated to tackle our problems
whatever they happen to be
so do you still think there are too many
people
or maybe
not enough
I'm Marianne tupi senior fellow at the
Cato Institute and co-author of super
abundance for Prague University
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