Talk:William Petty

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Context added in Life and Influences[edit]

Petty was a music professor before being apprenticed to the brilliant Thomas Hobbes of Oxford and Cambridge University. Petty arrived upon Laissez-faire's competing view of economics at a time of great opportunity and growth in a fledgling expanding British Empire. "Laissez-faire" policies stood in direct contrast to his supervisor Hobbes' Social Contract, developed based on Hobbes' experiences during the greatest depression in Britain's history The General Crisis. To afford some context, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's experiences during the Great Depression of 1930, prompted him to create the Second Bill of Rights similarly. The science of Transition Economics explains (365-years later), that Laissez-faire is an "unsustainable" policy - and Social Contract is a "sustainable" policy. An "Unsustainable" designation here, means that Laissez-Faire is only beneficial early-on in recurring sixty-year periods of great economic opportunity. Britain, and the world, had just endured the greatest depression of all time - The General Crisis of 1640, which was followed by the greatest period of growth in Britain's history - which happened to be Willian Petty's era as well. Edtilley4 (talk) 12:20, 14 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Untitled[edit]

I'm not sure who created the William Petty page, but the second sentence is either a typo or vandalism.

MP[edit]

What about his membership in English Parlament? Britanica say yes, wiki is ambigious.

Adam Smith and Petty[edit]

Adam Smith never mentions Petty although he had read him (according to Smith's letter to a relative of Petty). Remember that Smith before he met the Économistes in Paris was a micro-economical economists in the tradition of his teacher Hutcheson. He started to write the "Wealth" in Toulouse before the Écomomistes explained him the logic of classical macro-economics. There is no direct influence of Petty on Smith, but an indirect one via the French.Cuauti (talk) 12:42, 21 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Some additions[edit]

I added a few items. Tidied up the introduction -- that he surveyed land in Ireland is historic fact, as is the context in which he did it.

I changed the reference from 'scientist' to 'economist and scientist'. I'm not sure he was a scientist, though he was an inventor. Philosopher, definitely.

--GwydionM 20:05, 6 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Gresham Prof[edit]

It seems likely (from the dates and titles) that this is the Sir William Petty FRS who was Gresham Professor of Music 1650/1-1660/1 ( the post presumably being given as a sinecure). Can anyone confirm this? JackyR 02:45, 23 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, among many other things he was also Gresham Professor of Music. I will dig up some more biographical info, I have a few sources on him. I have also changed the category, he belongs to a period well before classical economics, therefore I have changed it to Preclassical economics. In the box I couldn't change the "classical economics", because there is no article on Preclassical economics (yet). Robertsch55 09:36, 26 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Bacon and mathematics[edit]

What is the basis for this?

"Bacon, and indeed Hobbes, held the conviction that mathematics and the senses must be the basis of all rational sciences."

Bacon was suspicious of mathematics, because of Pythagorean mysticism and John Dee's occultism. Bacon's neglect of mathematics is widely considered to be one of his weaknesses (he barely mentions it in Novum Organum, and when he does so he makes it clear that mathematics is subservient to the purity of natural philosophy (See Novum Organum Book I, XCVI)). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.20.106.51 (talk) 16:56, 9 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Unexplained notation[edit]

The article says this:

The answer for Petty lay in the velocity of money’s circulation. Anticipating the quantity theory of money often said to be initiated by John Locke, whereby Yp = MSv, Petty stated that if Y was to be increased for a given money supply, 'revolutions' must occur in smaller circles (i.e. higher v).

This seems to assume that the reader knows what "Y", "p", "M", "S", and "v" stand for. We can surmise that "v" is velocity. What Y is, it doesn't say, but it seems to be something who increase is desirable, so maybe it means the amount of money in circulation, since Petty seemed to think there was not enough. Maybe. We shouldn't have to surmise; it should tell us what each of those quanitities is. Michael Hardy (talk) 23:58, 14 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have added an explanation of the notation based on some online research. The section has a link to Velocity of money, which has similar equations. (The section was added in the revision as of 15:36, 15 December 2005.) TSventon (talk) 10:50, 12 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Wife[edit]

How could he be a great-grandfather of anyone when there is no mention of any wife.Wjhonson (talk) 03:11, 23 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Laissez Faire[edit]

Sir William Petty was not a supporter of laissez faire.

It is absurd to suggest that Sir William Petty, a man who attacked the suggested state economic interventions of others only to suggest his own, was a supporter of noninterventionism (laissez faire). One might as well suggest that Thomas Hobbes, the great apologist for political absolutism (tyranny), was an advocate of constitutional liberties90.195.102.179 (talk) 17:22, 26 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The way you phrased your edits was incompatible with WP:NPOV and WP:OR. GoddersUK (talk) 14:46, 2 January 2015 (UTC) Dear UTC, it is not my fault if other people write things that are clearly NOT TRUE - such as the absurd claim that Sir William Petty was a noninterventionist Laissez Faire man.2A02:C7D:B47A:C900:B1A8:266B:7EE8:BD51 (talk) 18:25, 10 November 2018 (UTC) For example, look up Sir William Petty's suggestions for government economic interventionism in the case of Ireland. In reality the term "laissez faire" originated in France (it is French - not English) and was used in association to opposition to the policies of Louis XIV (the "Sun King").2A02:C7D:B41D:C800:3C54:A735:E641:9A53 (talk) 15:36, 20 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

To claim that Sir William Petty was a supporter of Laissez Faire, i.e. a supporter of nonintervention in government policy, is false.[edit]

Sir William Petty, as (for example) his proposals for Ireland (government control of the young and of much employment) show, was most certainly NOT a supporter of Laissez Faire (government staying out of economic and social matters). The "Full Employment" section of this very article shows that Sir William Petty was not a supporter of non-intervention - as it describes a few of the interventions he was in favour of. Is the writer of this article incapable of basic logical reasoning? If a man makes proposals for government interventions (and Sir William Petty made many such proposals) that man is most certainly NOT a non interventionist. You might as well claim that Sir Francis Bacon (the author of "The New Atlantis") or Jeremy Bentham (who wanted 13 Departments of state to control most aspects of life), were non interventionist Laissez Faire supporters. I hope this is now clear - if it is not clear then go and look at Sir William Petty's proposals for Ireland for yourself. If Sir William Petty was a Laissez Faire noninterventionist person then I am Alexander the Great.90.194.157.62 (talk) 18:27, 10 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]