The invention of the concept of social surplus: Petty in the Hartlib Circle

Tony Aspromourgos

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2005, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-24

Abstract: Among other innovative and important contributions to the formation of political economy, William Petty is the originator of the concept of an economic or social surplus, a vital element in the formation of classical economics. It therefore is a natural and intriguing question, how Petty came to develop his seminal formulations of surplus. Our argument is that the concept took form in his thought as a result of stimulus provided by Petty's involvement in the agricultural technology programme of Samuel Hartlib and his 'Circle'.

Keywords: Classical economics; seventeenth century; surplus; William Petty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1080/0967256042000338014

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