Nehemiah Grew and England's Economic Development

. Ed(s): Hoppit, Julian

ISBN 10: 0197264956 / ISBN 13: 9780197264959

Published by Oxford University Press, 2012

About this Item

The book is a scholarly edition of a manuscript written in about 1706 which has not previously been published. The main text considers England's economic potential, and puts forward ways in which that potential could be maximized. Editor(s): Hoppit, Julian. Series: Records of Social & Economic History. Num Pages: 180 pages. BIC Classification: 1DBKE; 3JF; HBJD1; HBLL; KCZ. Category: (UP) Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly; (UU) Undergraduate. Dimension: 241 x 164 x 17. Weight in Grams: 440. . 2012. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780197264959

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Nehemiah Grew and England's Economic Development
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0197264956
• ISBN 13: 9780197264959
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

This edition publishes for the first time a little-known work on improving England's economy, written around 1706 and presented to Queen Anne on the eve of the parliamentary Union of England and Scotland. As such it contributed to a growing body of writing about managing the economy in Britain. That the work has often been overlooked is partly because its author, Nehemiah Grew, is best known as a botanist and as a medic. But his distinctive voice and decided views warrant wider appreciation. In part his unusual contribution to economic literature arose from his involvement in the early Royal Society, founded in 1660, informing as it did his view of England's material potential and how it might best be exploited. But he was also suspicious of people's motivations and was certain that the state had to regulate lives to a significant degree if society was to be as productive as possible. If Grew's religious beliefs were important here, it is also clear that he had read amongst contemporary writings on economic matters. Certainly, his work ranges widely, from natural resources to human capital, agriculture to industry, internal trade to overseas commerce. Sir William Petty was an especially important influence upon him, though he eschewed Petty's methodological emphasis upon 'political arithmetic'. Indeed, Grew's assumptions and conclusions prove very questionable when their statistical implications are worked through. Nonetheless, the work reminds us of the importance of blind alleys and false dawns in the history of early 'political economy'.

About the Author

Julian Hoppit has taught at University College London since 1987, and has been Astor Professor of British History there since 2005. His work particularly explores the interconnections of British economic and political history between 1660 and the early nineteenth century, though he has also authored a volume in the New Oxford History of England: A land of liberty? England, 1689-1727 (OUP, 2000). He is currently preparing a book to be called Britain's political economies, 1660-1800 and is also an editor of the Historical Journal.