… is from page 12 of Julian Simon’s 1997 essay “More People, Greater Wealth, Expanded Resources, Healthier Environment,” as reprinted in the excellent 2000 collection Population: The Ultimate Resource (Barun S. Mitra, editor):
Population growth does not lower the standard of living – all the evidence agrees. And the evidence supports the view that population growth raises the standard of living in the long run.
As Julian Simon brilliantly demonstrated, free human beings are the ultimate resource.