Malthus is Still Wrong

Dean Esmay writes about overpopulation fears:

First off, what about all those poor areas that are so horribly overcrowded in the third world? I invite you to look carefully: in any country that is generally free and features a generally democratic government (say, as ranked by Freedom House as a 4,4 or better), no matter how poor that country is, you will find that the areas within it with the greatest population density are the ones with the highest standards of living and best incomes. No? You don’t think so? Find me the exception.

Another challenge: of nations ranked at least partly-free (again, using the Freedom House data set), find me a single one that ever experienced a famine while it was ranked as at least partly-free. You can’t do it. Know why? Because it’s never happened. As in, never. “Close” does not count. Neither do cases of “malnutrition,” which can be anything from vitamin or mineral deficiency to overconsumption of calories causing obesity. “Famine” means the real thing: throngs of emaciated, withering away people, bodies rotting in the streets wasted away from hunger. Free societies do not experience this, ever.

[Emphasis added.] Since I’m still working on Jared Diamond’s Collapse, I find Dean’s argument very interesting.

Link via Erick.