Los economistas políticos clásicos: pobreza y población. Algunos de sus teóricos relevantes

The differences between Adam Smith and Thomas Robert Malthus on the conception of poverty are the subject of this article. These  differences, in addition to being theoretical, are reflected in the  conception of social policy. Smith demonstrated the power of work as  the cause of wealth, Malthus the power of poverty as a cause of work.  For Smith, the main feature of the poor was that they were workers,  whereas for Malthus, workers were characterized by their poverty, since  without it, they would lack the motivation to work. In Smith's view,  poverty was relative, since in his progressive economy, the very poor  would become poor, and the less poor would eventually live in a  comfortable sort of poverty. The poor would tend to become very poor  while the very poor would starve and even die.