David Ricardo
Classical economist who championed free trade and comparative advantage.
David Ricardo was a British economist and politician born on 18 April 1772 and died on 11 September 1823.[1] Along with Thomas Malthus, Adam Smith, and James Mill, David Ricardo is counted among the most significant classical economists.[1] The 1817 publication On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation is Ricardo's best-known book.[2]
Quick Facts
- Office
- Member of Parliament; for Portarlington
- Took office
- 20 February 1819
- Left office
- 11 September 1823
- Predecessor
- Richard Sharp
- Successor
- James Farquhar
- Born
- 18 April 1772
- Birthplace
- London, England
- Place of death
- Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire, England
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Ricardo was the third child to survive among 17 born to a London stockbroker from a Sephardic Jewish background.[3] At fourteen years old, he started working alongside his father.[3] When he was 21, Ricardo ran away with Priscilla Anne Wilkinson, a Quaker, and adopted Unitarianism, which caused a rift with his relatives.[4] During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Ricardo increased his fortune by trading in securities.[5]
An abolitionist, in March 1823 he addressed the Court of the East India Company, denouncing slavery as a national stain.[6] An infection in his middle ear that reached his brain caused Ricardo's death at age 51.[7]
What the cited sources add
The 1847 biographical notice by Constancio and Fonteyraud states that Ricardo's life was spent amid violent upheavals in economic, political, and social doctrines.[8] That same source notes that Ricardo wrote under the dictation of events and with a view to real, palpable progress.[8] The biography describes Ricardo as having to make his fortune and form his mind with only his penetrating sagacity and energetic will as guides.[8] Ricardo's own Principles text explains that rent is only paid because land is not unlimited in quantity and uniform in quality.[9]
The same work states that the rise of rent is always the effect of the increasing wealth of the country and the difficulty of providing food for its augmented population.[9] According to the notice, David Ricardo became involved in his father's business dealings at fourteen.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "David Ricardo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sowell, Thomas (2006). On classical economics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.; "David Ricardo | Policonomics", 30 January 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Ricardo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ricardo, David (1817) "On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation". Piero Sraffa (Ed.) Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, Volume I, Cambridge U (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Ricardo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: David Ricardo, D. Weatherall, Springer Netherlands, 2012, p. 6; Anglo-Jewish Portraits – A Biographical Catalogue of Engraved Anglo-Jewish and Colonial Portraits from the Earliest Times to the Accession of Queen Victoria, Al; Heertje, "The Dutch and Portuguese-Jewish background of David Ricardo", European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2004, p. 281–294; "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", 2 September 2004, p. ref:odnb/23471; Heertje, "The Dutch and Portuguese-Jewish background of David Ricardo", European Journal of en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Ricardo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Francisco Solano Constancio, Paul Henri Alcide Fonteyraud. 1847. Œuvres complètes de David Ricardo, Guillaumin, (pp. v–xlviii): A part sa conversion au Christia; Ricardo, David. 1919. Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. G. Bell, p. lix: "by reason of a religious difference with his father, to adopt a position o; Sraffa, Piero, "The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo: Volume 10, Biographical Miscellany", Cambridge University Press, 1973, p. 434 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Ricardo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Zweig, "Economist David Ricardo", The Wall Street Journal, 26 May 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Ricardo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: King, "David Ricardo", Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, p. 48 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Ricardo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", 2 September 2004, p. ref:odnb/23471 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Francisco Solano Constancio, Paul Henri Alcide Fonteyraud. 1847. Œuvres complètes de David Ricardo, Guillaumin, (pp. v–xlviii): A part sa conversion au Christia. facts only, no text reused. fr.wikisource.org
- Ricardo, "On The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, by David Ricardo, 1817", www.marxists.org, 1817. facts only, no text reused. marxists.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article David Ricardo (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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