We've primarily concentrated on farmers and salaried workers, but not everyone in the economy would be ensnared in a Malthusian trap. As the population expands, so does the demand for food. Consequently, the finite land used for food production should grow more valuable. In a Malthusian setting, a rising population should thus result in a better economic standing for landowners.

This was the case in England, where Figure 2.19 demonstrates that real wages didn't grow significantly in the long term (remaining similar in 1800 as they were in 1450). The income disparity between landowners and laborers also widened. In the 17th and 18th centuries, unskilled English workers' wages were just one-fifth of what they had been in the 16th century compared to landowners' incomes.

However, despite wages being low relative to landlords' rents, a different comparison of relative prices was crucial to England's liberation from the Malthusian trap. Wages stayed high compared to the price of coal (Figure 2.10) and even rose in relation to the expense of utilizing capital goods (Figure 2.11), as previously noted.