David Ricardo

David Ricardo was a very influential political economist in the history of economic thought. Born in London on April 18, 1772, and departing on September 11, 1823; he was among the likes of Thomas Malthus and Adam Smith. Ricardo was one of seventeen children in a Sephardic Jewish family (from Portugal) that emigrated from the Netherlands to Great Britain just prior to his birth. At age 14, Ricardo joined his father at the London Stock Exchange, where he began to learn about the workings of finance. This beginning set the stage for Ricardo's later success in the stock market and real estate.

In his first encounter with economics, Ricardo became interested after reading Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations in 1799 on a vacation to an English resort. Ricardo's work with the stock exchange made him quite wealthy, which allowed him to retire from business in 1814 at the age of 42. He then purchased and moved to Gatcombe Park, an estate in Gloucestershire.. Ricardo was a close friend of James Mill, who encouraged him in his political ambitions and writings about economics. Other notable friends included Jeremy Bentham and Thomas Malthus, with whom Ricardo had a considerable debate (in correspondence) over such things as the role of land owners in a society.

"Political Economy, you think, is an enquiry into the nature and causes of wealth -- I think it should rather be called an enquiry into the laws which determine the division of produce of industry amongst the classes that concur in its formation. No law can be laid down respecting quantity, but a tolerably correct one can be laid down respecting proportions. Every day I am more satisfied that the former enquiry is vain and delusive, and the latter the only true object of the science." David Ricardo [2]

It was only after the persistent urging of the eager friend, James Mill, that Ricardo actually decided to write down his own ideas about economics. He began in 1809, authoring newspaper articles on currency questions which drew him into the great Bullionist