PETTY, William.

£7,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Political Arithmetick, Second edition, first published posthumously the previous year, this the Macclesfield copy, in very desirable condition. The discourse outlines Petty's approach of "political arithmetic" (rigorous statistical analysis of economic data and problems), his core contribution to the discipline of economics, and "ranks as one of his most important works" (Keynes).Petty has gone down in history as the originator of statistical analysis, an approach with wide application in many fields of economics, and which did much to set the still-emerging discipline of political economy on a more scientific, rationalized basis. Petty published various works that covered the subject. "Although printed posthumously, Petty's Political Arithmetick was widely circulated during his lifetime among his friends in numerous manuscripts, one of which he presented to the King with a dedication written probably in 1683. He was nevertheless very reluctant to have it printed, this resulting in its appearance in an unauthorized and inferior form under the title England's Guide to Industry, 1683. According to Hull, who described some of the manuscripts, Petty wrote the book during the years 1671-6. After his death there was a general demand for it, and Lady Petty, with the support of Sir Robert Southwell, allowed it to be printed... In the book he examined the potential wealth of England by 'Observations of positions expressed by number, weight and measure', that is, by statistics. It was

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