Essays on Mankind and Political Arithmetic

"Essays on Mankind and Political Arithmetic" by Sir William Petty is a compilation of writings that look at society and money matters in the 1600s. It examines how the number of people living in cities and countries affects the economy and politics of the time. The book also gives a detailed account of Sir William Petty's life, including his education and his new ideas about using numbers to understand politics. It focuses on how big cities like London were growing, even when bad things like disease and fires were happening. Petty came up with creative ways to count people, using things like death records and taxes. He even started to think about how much a person's life was worth when it came to the economy. The book lays the groundwork for discussions about the economy and politics of the area and time.