Before industrialization, Europe's population saw dramatic growth: from 110,000,000 to 190,000,000. What triggered this growth? Probably the end of feudalism. The end of feudal contracts gave people a little more say in their daily work activities, resulting in more time spent at home, which ultimately led to pregnancy. This would leave citizens struggling both to meet the needs of the population as a whole and to improve the overall quality of life of individuals. This led economists, such as Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776), to examine the most cost-effective method of producing the goods and services required by citizens (such as clothing and food). It also prompted others, such as Thomas Malthus in his Essay on Population (1798), to seek a way to curb population growth so that Europe could support it. Eventually the ideas of both theorists were put into practice in reality. Although the ideas of both theorists initially met with resistance from the everyday worker and his family, these ideas were necessary for the economic development and sustainability of the nation. The Industrial Revolution was beneficial to the society of the time because it provided the population with the means to supply the necessary materials through the development of mechanization, forced labor and agriculture, but it conformed to Malthus' model of subsistence by having citizens live together in slums located in urban areas close to the workplace, the health and safety problems associated with this relocation would result in a natural population decline. Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations as a guide to why the economy should be catered to for the benefit of both businesses and consumers. While Smith emphasizes the importance of d...... middle of paper ......inning' (1794).” In Documents in the History of Early Modern Europe. Ed. Ken MacMillan. Calgary: University of Calgary, 2011. Pp. 48-49.Appleby & Sawyer, Bernard Bischoff & Sons. “Excerpt from Appleby & Sawyer, Bernard Bischoff & Sons, 'Letter from the Cloth Merchants of Leeds' (1791) in Documents in the History of Early Modern Europe. Ed. Ken MacMillan. Calgary: University of Calgary, 2011. Pp. 46-47.Hepworth, Joseph, Lobley, Thomas and Blackburn, Robert. “Excerpt from Joseph Hepworth, Thomas Lobley, Robert Blackburn, 'Leeds Woolen Workers Petition' (1786) in Documents in the History of Early Modern Europe. Ed. Ken MacMillan. Calgary: University of Calgary, 2011. P. 46Smith, Adam. 'Excerpt from Adam Smith, 'The Wealth of Nations' (1776). In Documents on the history of early modern Europe. Ed. Ken MacMillan. Calgary: University of Calgary, 2011 pp. 42-45