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托马斯·马尔萨斯:人口论·摘录 51

托马斯·马尔萨斯《人口论》· An Essay on the Principle of Population · 投资

It will be said, perhaps, that the increased number of purchasers in every article would give a spur to productive industry and that the whole produce of the island would be increased. This might in some degree be the case. But the spur that these fancied riches would give to population would more than counterbalance it, and the increased produce would be to be divided among a more than proportionably increased number of people. All this time I am supposing that the same quantity of work would be done as before. But this would not really take place. The receipt of five shillings a day, instead of eighteen pence, would make every man fancy himself comparatively rich and able to indulge himself in many hours or days of leisure. This would give a strong and immediate check to productive industry, and, in a short time, not only the nation would be poorer, but the lower classes themselves would be much more distressed than when they received only eighteen pence a day.

出处: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4239
定位:Excerpt 51 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录

白话

有人会说:买的人多了,生产会被刺激,全国产出增加。马尔萨斯承认有一点道理,但强调刺激人口增长的作用更大,增产会被更多人口分掉。而且他假设工作量不变,实际不会:日薪从十八便士涨到五先令,人人觉得自己富了,想多歇几天,生产反而受打击。结果短期内国家更穷,底层比拿十八便士时更苦。他的核心是:单纯提高收入而不改变生产习惯和人口增长,会把好处抵消掉。

上下文

马尔萨斯《人口论》反驳“增加穷人收入能刺激生产”的乐观看法。

今日一问

如果收入突然提高,你会多干活还是多休息?为什么?

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