Who the hell is an immigrant?

[The Minsky Moment]

I'm not really interested in defending everything he says though, firstly because I remain unconvinced of a lot of what he's saying and secondly because I'm not an economist myself and would do a poor job of it. What I really would like your opinion on is the thesis that the west progressed from a malthusian economy to a modern non-malthusian economy and whether you believe this to be a fair assessment of world economic history (please note that when this happened isn't quite as important as whether it happened).

I don't think food supply constraints have historically been the principal limiting factor in human population growth - at least in Europe.  I am not sufficiently familiar with Chinese or Indian history and Malthusian constraint may have operated there at times.  But in Europe as whole prior to the high Middle Ages shortage of arable land was not a major issue, given the capability to clear forest and drain swamps.  As population density grew, raising the value of agricultural land -- and thus the potential returns on investment -- there was an innovation response in terms of improved technology and techniques.  One can question whether the trend of population growth in the late 14 century could have been sustained absent the Plague, but that is a counterfactual.