Decker

Decker, Sir Matthew (1679-1719), a political economist who, born at Amsterdam, came to London in 1702, and prospering as a merchant, obtained a baronetcy and a seat in Parliament. He wrote two treatises - one, in 1743, a consideration of the value of land and of the heavy loads borne by the English nation, especially the commercial part of it, and the other, in 1744, upon British foreign trade. Later economists have questioned the authorship as showing views too advanced for the times. Among his proposals were the abolition of monopolies, the forbidding the exportation of corn, the forbidding of begging, and a scheme for paying off the national debt.