 The negativity surrounding his essay created a space filled with opinions on population growth, connected with either praise or criticism of ideas about contraception and the future of agriculture.The Malthusian controversy to which the "Essay" gave rise in the decades following its publication tended to focus attention on the birth rate and marriage rates.The neo-Malthusian controversy, comprising related debates of many years later, has seen a similar central role assigned to the numbers of children born.