Why Malthus Matters: A homework assignment

A magnificent recent article by Matthew Yglesias, an American blogger and journalist who writes about economics and politics on his Slow Boring blog, makes a provocative case about the connection between Malthusian thinking and contemporary politics. His piece connects Malthusian notions of population limits to today's views on immigration, land use, wealth, and the price of rent in cities. In short, it is quite a tour de force.

While I don't know whether I agree with Yglesias, shouldn't every high school graduate be capable of dissecting an article like this? He makes a veritable truckload of assertions, only some deriving from Malthus, but each of which could provide a semester's worth of discussion fodder. Almost every school purports to teach critical thinking skills; how about starting from Yglesias and seeing where it takes your class?