I read an amazing article on a 16th century economist Sir William Petty
Its amazing to see that so early on he could estimate the GDP, create guessitmates as a legitimate method of prediction & planning. What should be the ideal money supply, what is velocity of money, how do banking system, interest rate and foreign trade impact the growth and development of the nation.
He estimated the value of land based on economic output and Present value. He estimated (quite accurately) the peak population & size of London, impact of full employment, division on labor on productivity.
What it pains to see that although his theories were pretty accurate foundation stone of economics, he never received any credit for this path breaking thoughts and theories. Adam Smith’s wealth of nation had no reference to his work, John Maynard Keynes recreated his work abinitio when computing aggregate demand and unemployment. Only Karl Marx Das Kapital has given him some credit.
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