David Ricardo was a British political economist and a central figure of classical economics, alongside Adam Smith. In his 1817 work On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, he formalized the theory of comparative advantage, showing that two countries gain from trading with each other even when one of them can produce every good more efficiently than the other, so long as each specializes in what it produces relatively best. Ricardo also developed influential theories of rent and value, and served as a Member of Parliament advocating free trade and the repeal of Britain's protectionist Corn Laws.
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Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage supplied the intellectual case free traders used against the Corn Laws.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Named for Ricardo, who raised the underlying idea in his 1820 Essay on the Funding System, though he doubted its practical relevance; Associated With rather than Attributed To, since the modern theorem's formal origin is Robert Barro's, not Ricardo's own.
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Ricardian equivalence (Wikipedia)
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Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Classical economics (Wikipedia)Article text
Concepts Originated
Source On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation
Additional Source Comparative advantage (Wikipedia)David Ricardo
Source On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation
Debated With
Ricardo and Malthus corresponded from 1817 onward in what historians call the Malthus-Ricardo debate, disagreeing over rent theory, the possibility of general economic gluts, and the Corn Laws, with Malthus favoring protection for British agriculture and Ricardo favoring free trade. A contemporary described the two as holding different shades of opinion rather than belonging to diverging camps.
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Thomas Robert Malthus (Wikipedia)Thomas Robert Malthus
Influenced
Additional Source Karl Marx (Wikipedia)Karl Marx, "Paris: 1843-1845" section
Influenced By
Additional Source David Ricardo (Wikipedia)Article text
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Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
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The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics
Palgrave MacmillanRicardo, David
David Ricardo (Wikipedia)
- Infobox, David Ricardo
- David Ricardo
Article text
David Ricardo (18 April 1772 - 11 September 1823) was a British economist and politician.
In Group: International Trade Theorists, Lead
As MP for Portarlington, Ricardo advocated for liberal political movements and reforms, including free trade, parliamentary reform, and criminal law reform.
View the SourceEncyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.Associated With: Repeal of the Corn LawsView the Source On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation
- Concepts Originated: Diminishing Marginal Returns
Concepts Originated: Comparative Advantage, Chapter 7, On Foreign Trade
Ricardo set out the principle in his 1817 On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, showing that two countries each gain from trade by specializing in the good each produces at the lowest opportunity cost, even when one country is more efficient at producing everything.
Comparative advantage (Wikipedia)
Ricardian equivalence (Wikipedia)
Classical economics (Wikipedia)
WikipediaAssociated With School: Classical Economics, Article textQuote, Associated With School: Classical Economics, Article text
Its main thinkers are held to be Adam Smith, Jean-Baptiste Say, David Ricardo, Thomas Robert Malthus, and John Stuart Mill.
Thomas Robert Malthus (Wikipedia)
Karl Marx (Wikipedia)
Influenced: Karl Marx, Karl Marx, "Paris: 1843-1845" sectionQuote, Influenced: Karl Marx, Karl Marx, "Paris: 1843-1845" section
During the time that he lived at 38 Rue Vaneau in Paris (from October 1843 until January 1845), Marx engaged in an intensive study of political economy (Adam Smith, David Ricardo, James Mill, etc.)
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