Petty William (1623-1687) - English economist, scientist and philosopher. He became famous when he served Oliver Cromwell and the English Republic. The scientist has developed effective methods for exploring land intended for confiscation. After Cromwell, he served under Charles II and James II. For several years he sat in the English Parliament. However, the economic views of William Petty are best known. He is credited with upholding the laissez-faire principle in government policy.
William Petty: Biography
Будущий известный экономист досмитовской эры born in a family of tailors. He grew up an inquisitive and intelligent child, and in 1637 got a job as a cabin boy on a ship. However, he soon broke his leg and was landed on the beach in Normandy. After that year, Petty William studied Latin and worked as an English teacher for the local population. Then he returned to England. By this time, the future economist was already well versed in Latin, Greek, French, mathematics and astronomy. After a short period of service in the fleet, he went to Holland, where he became interested in anatomy. In Amsterdam, William worked as a personal secretary to Hobbes, which allowed him to get acquainted with Descartes, Gassendi and Mersenne.
In 1646 he returned to England and took upstudying medicine at the University of Oxford. He managed to invent and patent his own copy machine, but he failed to organize its sale. In 1652 he took leave and went to Ireland with Cromwell's army. He sat in parliament, served with two kings. After 1660, his scientific interest shifted from the physical to the social sciences. In 1667, he married Elizabeth Waller. The economist died in 1687 in London, where he returned from Ireland shortly before his death.
Economic views
The theory of the scientist was influenced by two sources:
- Thomas HobbesWilliam was his personal secretary for some time and managed to remember well the rational demands of "civil peace and material abundance." Therefore, most of his life he was looking for sources of prosperity for Ireland.
- Francis Bacon.The scientist agreed that mathematics and intuition should be the basis of all rational sciences. Therefore, in his scientific research, he always sought to search for quantitative indicators. So there was a so-called political arithmetic.
William Petty is often called the first realscientist economist. The depth of his research placed him above Thomas Man, Josiah Child and John Locke. Petty's work preceded political economy. His most famous theories are related to taxation, national wealth, money supply and its circulation rate, value, interest rate, international trade and public investment. Petty was one of the first to speak out against the mercantilist views. He believed that the cost of any product must be based on the labor expended on its production. The national wealth of the country, in his opinion, consists not only in gold and silver, and not only the lack of money, but also their surplus is harmful.
Taxes, statistics and national income accounting
During Petty's reign in Englandthe concept was mercantilism. England was at war with Holland, and she needed money. Therefore, Petty was looking for the correct principles of taxation. They were supposed to help fill the coffers for the conduct of war. Petty singled out six areas of collection. He believed that they should be regular and proportionate. Petty advocated tax collection in the form of not only precious metals, but also money. He used the same principle when calculating national income. He believed that the wealth of the state consists not only in gold and silver, but also in money. According to his calculations, the national income of England in the 1660s was 667 million pounds.
In statistics, Petty used simple averages.indicators. However, at that time it was a great achievement. Virtually no one before him used quantitative indicators at all. Census data, also from Ireland, was very difficult to obtain. Therefore, Petty came up with his own way of estimating the number of people. He believed that an increase in exports of 30% leads to a proportional increase in population, and one person out of thirty dies every year. So estimated the number of residents of London. Petty suggested that there were eight times more people in the whole country. It should be noted that this method was criticized during the life of a scientist.
Theory of value and interest
Petty William continued the discussion begunAristotle. He continued the theory of value, which was based on the resources spent on production. He singled out two factors: land and labor. Both were sources of taxable income. Petty wanted to create an equation that would result in the correct cost of goods. An important component, he also considered the overall performance. Petty applied his theory of value to calculating the rent. As for the interest rate, at that time many still considered such profit making to be sinful. However, Petty did not agree with this interpretation. He introduces the concept of reward for refusing to use money from the borrower.
Management based on the principle of non-interference
One of the important topics that I raised in myThe work of Petty William, is the philosophy of laissez-faire in government. Here he relied on the medical principle of non-interference in the work of a healthy organism. He applied it to monopolies, and to control the export of money, and to trade in goods. He believed that government regulation does more harm than good.
William Petty: Theories
For his life, the scientist turned to many areasfuture economic science. In the works you can find the views of William Petty on taxes, national income calculation, statistics, money supply and their circulation rate, the theory of value and interest, public administration, regulation of exchange rates and trade, full employment, the division of labor and many other topics. His theories influenced the views of many well-known economists. In a sense, such great minds as Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes became his followers. Extremely broad areas of interest helped Petty stay relevant for a long time.
Works and Heritage
William Petty - Founder and Member of the Royalof society. Most of all he is known for his work on economic history and statistics. The founder of modern census techniques is William Petty. The works of the scientist include the following works:
- "Treatise on taxes and fees" (1662).
- "Political arithmetic" (1676).
- Verbum Sapienti (1664).
- "Political Anatomy of Ireland" (1672).
- "About the money" (1682).
- "Essay on the multiplication of mankind" (1682).
