Sir William Petty, Ireland, and the making of a political economist, 1653–87¹

Abstract

This paper offers a reassessment of the origins and derivation of many of Sir William Petty's economic ideas, based on an analysis of his unpublished papers. Petty's archive makes clear what a large part Ireland played in his writings, and it is suggested that this preoccupation is essential to an appreciation of him as an economist. It also demonstrates the point that Petty was not principally a theorist but rather a practical political economist whose schemes for the enrichment of the king's dominions were inspired by the underdevelopment which he experienced at first hand in Ireland.

Review of periodical literature published in 2009

“…The benefits of increasing wealth were not seen as unmixed, however, with thinkers well aware that England was facing what we might today call a ‘challenge of affluence’. Staying with late Stuart English economic thought, and with the Review , Fox notes how important William Petty's Irish experience was to the formulation of his ideas. The famous ‘political arithmetician’ has an important place in the history of economics, outlining inter alia theories of interest and the division of labour, but he was interested primarily in practical ways of increasing the wealth of the British Isles.…”

Mediating Cultural Memory: Ireland and the “Glorious Revolution”

“…25 Accordingly, the most extensive mapping of Ireland was done by William Petty after the Cromwellian conquest, when Petty organized "the mapping of nearly 8.4 million Irish acres" for the 1656-58 Down Survey, which measured and commented on each parish in painstaking detail. 26 Petty's map was an important tool in the displacement of Irish Catholics and the redistribution of the lands of all those who had been active in the Irish Rebellion to government supporters and the adventurers who had funded the reconquest. 27 Morden draws on the authority of Petty to generate interest in his own map, noting that it is "drawn from the late Survey made by Sir William Pettie."…”