Thomas Malthus

Thomas Robert Malthus (February 14, 1766 - December 23, 1834) was an English demographer and economist best known for his pessimistic but highly influential views. Although it is popularly assumed that it was these pessimistic views that gave economics the nickname Dismal Science, the phrase was actually coined by the racist historian Thomas Carlyle in reference to an anti-slavery essay written by John Stuart Mill.