Borlaug blog

Error Theory's Alec Rawls on why Malthus and Ehrlich and their ilk are wrong:

Malthus had only looked at the diminishing marginal productivity caused by adding labor to a fixed production function (a fixed amount of land, in his example), but the fact that wages and population actually tend to rise rapidly together implies that on average an additional person must raise marginal productivity by raising the production function more than he lowers marginal productivity by moving total labor input out along the production function.

That "on average" was a relief to the Drunkablog, for without it the following "must" would have a distinctly unpleasant ring to it. Seeing as how he spends almost all of his time "lowering marginal productivity by moving total labor input out along the production function" (aka "staring into space"), the D-blog probably wouldn't last long if Malthus had been correct.

This is all by way of pointing out that Rawls has a nice post on Norm (God calls him "Norm") Borlaug, the man who showed just how wrong Malthus was, and, incidentally, "saved more lives than anyone else who ever lived." Rawls also links to a fine Borlaug tribute at Jurisdynamics. The comments and links at both blogs are well worth checking out, too.

(via Instapundit, I forgot to mention)

Update 12/12/06: Still think we need to drastically reduce the world's human population? Tim Blair: "Why not use Zyklon B?"