Malthus explores the rising price of provisions in England in An Investigation of the Cause of the Present High Price of Provisions. He speculates the causes of these changes, suggesting that it was not a result of corruption, but a natural consequence of the poor laws that were passed for the benefit of the lower class. This was one of his first essays on the relationship of population and economics. 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.