PHIL 2380 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Monopsony, Coase Theorem, Cornucopian
4 Feb 2016
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Simon- human population growth improved living conditions and environmental quality because: more people means more good ideas, more demand for things produces incentive to find, make, and creatively maintain the. A cornucopian population theorist named julian simon challenged neo-malthusian population theorist paul ehrlich to a bet in 1980. As a neo-malthusian, ehrlich believed that population growth was the primary cause of environmental crises. As a cornucopian, simon believed that every birth brought into the world a new mind that would desire and create a better world. The bet was over whether five metals selected by ehrlich would rise or fall in value over a period of ten years. If they rose, it was because population increased demand for these metals and therefore their scarcity. If prices fell, it was because humans innovated and found substitutions for these metals or made their use or extraction more efficient.
