William Petty and the ambitions of political arithmetic / Ted McCormick.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : William Petty and political arithmetic -- From Romsey to Paris -- The making of a virtuoso -- Surveying Ireland -- Science and policy in the restoration -- The transmutation of the Irish -- Corpuscles, colonies and kingdoms -- Political arithmetic in circulation -- Death and afterlife -- Conclusion : William Petty's political science.

"Examining Petty's intellectual development and his invention of 'political arithmetic' against the backdrop of the European scientific revolution and the political upheavals of Interregnum and Restoration England and Ireland, this book provides the first comprehensive intellectual biography of Petty based on a thorough examination not only of printed sources but also of Petty's extensive archive and pattern of manuscript circulation. It is also the first fully contextualized study of what political arithmetic - widely seen as an ancestor of modern social and economic analysis - was originally intended to do."--Jacket.