El GETEM ha estado presente en la 5 Conferencia de UK Latin American History Network (UKLAH), el 15 de mayo de 2026 en la Universidad de Warwick. Javier Lucena Giraldo ha presentado “The journey of Petty’s principles to the Indies”.

This work studies the path taken by Political Arithmetic and its changes. In particular, we examines the relationship between the concept developed and applied in Great Britain and Ireland, its possible influence in Spain in the early 18th century, and its spread to the Americas through diferent channels.  In this regard, it examines the flow of knowledge within the complex relationships of the Hispanic-Anglosphere in the early modern era. A world marked by international conflicts, religious wars, a lack of translations, and the prevalence of manuscripts and other unprinted materials.

The Interest of political arithmetic tends to decline due to doubts about its pioneer, William Petty, and the validity of his ideas, as point out Hoppit, Schumpeter, Condorcet and Smith. Its influence gradually declined as the 18th century progressed, given the rise of political economy, and became blurred under the label of mercantilism.

However, Schumpeter`s associates devotes a chapter to it, whilst Graunt, Petty, Davenant and King were acclaimed as the pioneers of demography, econometrics and political economy. Its ideas regulated the collection of trade data until the publication of The Wealth of Nations, and there are 11 surveys of the population and income in Great Britain. Furthermore, his influence can be seen in the stabilisation of Ireland, censuses, public finances and colonisation projects in the Americas.

Petty’s education and the choices he made in the turmoil world of the 17th century enabled him to produce Political Arithmetick. To do so, however, he first had to move from metaphysics to physics, and them, from the physics to political arithmetic. Political Arithmetic was specifically formulated in the 1670s as an empirical discipline rooted in natural philosophy. It is an applied and practical discipline. It was oriented toward the reform of the territory through interventions affecting the population, in a manner that would serve the monarchy.

it could be argued that Political Arithmetick is a Baroque invention rather than an Enlightenment one, despite Davenant’s attempts to adapt it. Therefore, it is not an Enlightenment  neutral idea aimed at the improvement of humanity. It is a product of the Whig perspective. it is a method serving colonial projects and economic development, aimed to create a new economic space through operations within the population. But is also one history of census and its proposes. The Down Survey of Ireland  was a Proyect to te census of Gerona in 1715, driven by José Patiño.