Thesis abstract / Blurb -- Preface: economic thought and the intellectual legacy of colonialism -- Acknowledgments -- William Petty : biographical and historical background -- Petty and the colonialist roots of development economics -- Petty's economic thought and the fiscal-military state --...

Both William Petty (1623 to 1687) and Adam Smith (1723 to 1790) were concerned with the question of how to increase productivity. In this connection, they both addressed the issues of technological invention and the organisation of the production process, but in very different ways. Petty...