William Petty: biography of this philosopher and economist

William Petty was an English philosopher, physician, economist, and statistician who made important contributions to his country, especially being one of the first to relate demography, economy and public health.

Born into a rather humble family, a series of fortunate and chance events made his son from a simple weaver he became a wealthy and reputed landed scientist, in addition to receiving the title of sir.

He was an English MP and friend of Oliver Cromwell, leader of the Republican Commonwealth of England. Next we will take a more in-depth look at the life of this researcher and his contributions to the study of population and the economy, through a biography of William Petty.

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Brief Biography of William Petty

From humble origins to becoming a major English landowner. You could go so far as to say that William Petty's life goes from one extreme to another, from here to there, especially considering that he had to live some rather turbulent times in his native England, midway between absolute monarchy, failed republic, and prosperous constitutionalism English monarchist.

His economic ideas have been fundamental for great figures such as Karl Marx or Adam Smith to expose their popular theories about capitalism, both for better and for worse. Marx came to see William Petty as such an important figure that he even claimed that Petty was the founder of modern political economy.. Be that as it may, this seventeenth-century character was truly well advanced for his time, which is why he is so well known today.

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Childhood and education

William Petty was born in the county of Ramsey, England, on May 23, 1623. He grew up in a very humble family, since his father was a weaver. He spent his first years studying at the Grammar School in his city and, soon, he began to stand out for his intelligence and abilities.

But despite excelling in studies, he could not avoid having to work when he was very young. His family was still in great need and any salary that came home was welcome. So that He enlisted as a cabin boy on a ship but was quite unlucky because when he docked on the coast of France his companions abandoned him.

However, far from being intimidated, he saw an opportunity in his arrival in France and decided to write to the Jesuits at the University of Caen, in Normandy. The letter, written in perfect Latin, attracted so much attention that the institution immediately admitted it. Upon his return to England he was able to study philosophy, geometry and astronomy at the age of 17 at the prestigious Oxford.

At the outbreak of the English Civil War, in which the kings Charles II and James II faced off against the Parliament and eventually a republic would be formed under Oliver Cromwell, Petty fled to Holland. There he would have the opportunity to study medicine, a science that would serve him by applying it to his later studies in economics. When he finished his studies he went to Paris, a cosmopolitan city where he would meet the philosopher Thomas Hobbes.

At the age of 24 he returned to London. Despite his youth, his intelligence and his studies earned him a place among the intelligentsia of his time. From this he would get to become a professor at the prestigious Oxford, the same place where he had studied.

Cromwelll's friend

The English invasion of Ireland would become a turning point in Petty's career. During this war he enlisted as a doctor in the army, and had the opportunity to associate with Oliver Cromwell himself, with whom he struck up a very good friendship. Thanks to this, after conquering the Emerald Isle, Cromwell commissioned Petty to make several topographic maps of the new properties of the Commonwealth of England.

Thus, from 1655 to 1658 Petty he traveled Ireland producing maps, being rewarded with vast tracts of land as payment. Thus William Petty, whose childhood had been that of a poor weaver's son and abandoned in his youth in lands lost by the French hand of God, became a wealthy landowner. Rubbing shoulders with the figure of Cromwell earned him a wide reputation and properties.

Last years

William Petty no longer had any financial problem and even became a member of the English Parliament, as well as being one of the founders of the Royal Society. From then on he devoted himself to the complete study of different sciences, writing several books where he expounded his theories. He died in London on December 16, 1687, holding the title of Sir for a lifetime of great contributions to his native England.

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Contributions to the economy

One of the geniuses that William Petty had and for which he is known is the fact that he has introduced the same methods and knowledge typical of medicine to the study of economics. He considered that each economic element should be seen as a whole, using more mathematical, statistical and scientific tools in general to solve the problems that frustrate the national wealth. It is often believed that he was far removed from the commercialism prevailing in his time. Among his contributions we have the following.

Theory of value

William Petty considered that all economic exchange was subject to rules that he considered natural, which all opposition is useless. He believed that, sooner or later, the prices of the products end up returning to their natural level. According to Petty, the origin of value is in work. He differentiated between two types of values ​​for each product:

On the one hand we have the natural value, which refers to the internal value of each product, that is, what the product costs to produce itself. To be able to calculate it, it is necessary to take into account the work necessary to produce it and calculate productivity, taking into account two different measures: land and labor itself exercised. In his own words, it could be said that work is the father of wealth, and the earth is its mother.

The second value is the political. It is about the market value, which always depends on a multitude of factors, not so simple and easy to understand how the production and labor required to produce the product. These factors that make up the political value are alien to natural laws, depending on the subjectivity of the merchants themselves, demand, supply and needs of the consumers themselves.

Taxes

Petty developed a theory to explain what kind of taxes and fees were appropriate to generate social wealth. According to his theory, each person should contribute according to the assets and earnings earned, understanding that it was not fair to ask the richest for taxes that did not involve any effort while those same amounts were abusive for the poorer classes. Despite this, he was aware that most did not want to pay and were trying to get rid of their obligations.

Petty himself believed that taxes should not be excessive, too high to make the population will tighten their belts and try to save, since this would harm trade national. He considered that the taxes would be beneficial to the extent that the proceeds were invested in national products., not to feed the baggy pockets of the elites and the wealthy classes.

Petty's Law

Petty's Law, later renamed the Petty-Clark Law thanks to contributions from Colin Clark, is an economic law that proposes that as technical progress reduces transportation costs the market for non-agricultural goods expands. This means that the labor force dedicated to agriculture has to readjust and move to non-agricultural activities, leaving behind the mostly agricultural production societies to more diverse societies, in which other activities are carried out economic.

As the ways to transport agricultural products are improved, less labor is required in the process. This causes structural changes to take place in society, since those who were involved in this process lose their jobs and are forced to look for work in the cities. This causes life in the countryside to be gradually abandoned and to urban areas, where artisan work and industry prevail, in addition to the service sector.

With contributions from Clark It was concluded that one of the main ways in which economic progress manifests itself is in the continuous transfer of work from the primary to the secondary sector and, subsequently, to the tertiary. In other words, as one moves from the agricultural sector to the industrial sector and, later, to the services sector, according to Petty and Clark's own ideas, one progresses economically.

Demography

Petty had a great passion for demographics and often couldn't help but relate it to economics. It was he together with statistician John Graunt who created the first UK mortality tables, considered the beginning of modern demography. He believed that people added value to the economy and that increasing population should be the basis for economic improvement. According to him, the more people there are, the more labor there will be and the more wealth there will be.

Health

Also related to his interest in increasing the population and combined with his training in medicine, William Petty considered that it was essential to improve health. He believed it necessary to create an English health system that would ensure the good health of citizens, preventing them from contracting contagious diseases that decimated the population and reduced the economic productivity of the nation. This is why he proposed the creation of a Health Council in London, in addition to creating a hospital in which the training of English doctors was expanded.

Bibliographic references:

• Petty, W. (1662) A Treatise of Taxes & Contributions (later editions: 1667, 1679, 1685, etc.)
• Petty, W. (1682) An Essay Concerning the Multiplication of Mankind.
• Aspromourgos, Tony (1988) "The life of William Petty in relation to his economics" in History of Political Economy 20: 337–356.
• Routh, Guy (1989) The Origin of Economic Ideas. London: Macmillan.