David Ricardo

British economist and politician (1772–1823)

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Lived 1772–1823, aged 51

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Era
1772–1823
Aged 51

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

He built a fortune on government debt, then spent his final years arguing that the policies enriching men like him were strangling the economy. Ricardo's iron logic on comparative advantage reshaped how nations think about trade — and made him the intellectual architect of free trade in an age still clinging to tariffs.

Biography

About

Born in 1772 to a Sephardic stockbroker in London, Ricardo broke with his family at 21 when he eloped with a Quaker and converted to Unitarianism. He made his wealth financing government borrowing, retired to Gloucestershire, and entered Parliament as MP for Portarlington. There he fought the Corn Laws and protectionism, convinced that free trade lowered prices and lifted nations. He wrote his first economics article at 37, fixing gaps in Adam Smith's labor theory and developing his own frameworks for rent, wages, and profits. His theory of comparative advantage — that even weaker economies ga…

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In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from David Ricardo

David Ricardo

said1821

Utility then is not the measure of exchangeable value, although it is absolutely essential to it.

— Chapter I, Section I, On Value, p. 5

David Ricardo

said1821

Possessing utility, commodities derive their exchangeable value from two sources: from their scarcity, and from the quantity of labour required to obtain them.

— Chapter I, Section I, On Value, p. 5

David Ricardo

said1821

The wheat bought by a farmer to sow is comparatively a fixed capital to the wheat purchased by a baker to make into loaves.

— Chapter I, Section IV, On Value, p. 19

David Ricardo

said1821

Neither machines, nor the commodities made by them, rise in real value, but all commodities made by machines fall, and fall in proportion to their durability.

— Chapter I, Section V, On Value, p. 26

David Ricardo

said1821