Petty's "Political Arithmetick" Applies Statistics to Economic Theory and Policy

Political Arithmetick, or, a Discourse Concerning the Extent and Value of Lands, People, Buildings; Husbandry, Manufacture, Commerce, Fisher, Artizans, Seamen, Soldiers; Publick Revenues, Interest, Taxes, Superlucration, Registries, Banks; Valuation of Men, Increasing of Seamen,of Militia's, Harbours, Situation, Shipping, Power at Sea, &c. As the same relates to every Country in general, but more particularly to the Territories of His Majesty of Great Britain, and his Neighbours of Holland, Zealand,[i.e. Denmark] and France. by English Economist Sir William Petty, published in London in 1690, was a major comparative study of the wealth and economic policies of England and her rivals France and Holland. This was the first of Petty's works to contain in its title the phrase "political arithmetick" he had coined to describe the application of statistics to economic theory and policy. Petty was the first to employ numerical evaluation in economics, and his work provided the decisive impulse toward econometrics and the general application of statistics.