JAMB Economics 2017 Paper

Concept:Malthusian population theory explains how population growth can outpace food production, leading to overpopulation and food shortage.Explanation:Thomas Malthus argued that population grows at a geometric rate, e.g. $2,4,8,16,32,\dots$, while food production grows only at an arithmetic rate, e.g. $1,2,3,4,5,\dots$.This means population increases much faster than the food supply, so population may exceed available food.When this happens, natural checks such as war, disease, epidemics, and famine help reduce the population.Thus, the theory concerned with overpopulation and shortage of food production is the Malthusian population theory.Answer:B. Malthusian population theory