Observations on the Effects of the Corn Laws and of a Rise or Fall in the Price of Corn on the Agriculture and General Wealth of a Country

In his Observations on the Effects of the Corn Laws, Thomas Robert Malthus discusses the circumstances surrounding the proposed laws on the foreign grain market, called the Corn Laws of 1815. Malthus aimed to inform the members of Parliament as they voted on banning the sale foreign grains until the price of British grain was increased. The pamphlet captures a fascinating moment in history with Malthus's commentary on free trade as it affected British economy at that time. One year later, Malthus wrote a similar treatise, The Grounds of an Opinion on the Policy of Restricting the Importation of Foreign Corn, which he intended as an appendix to this work. THOMAS ROBERT MALTHUS (1766-1834) was an English classical economist, educated at Jesus College in Cambridge. In 1798, he took orders as a curate at Albury in Surrey, and became a Professor of History and Political Economy at the East India Company College (now known as Haileybury) in 1805. His most notable work is An Essay on the Principle of Population, with six editions published between 1798 to 1826.