David Ricardo (1772 – 1823)
English political economist, often credited with systematizing economics, and was one of the most influential of the classical economists.
There can be no greater error then in supposing that capital is increased by non-consumption.
Money is neither a material to work upon nor a tool to work with.
But a tax on luxuries would no other effect than to raise their price. It would fall wholly on the consumer, and could neither increase wages nor lower profits.
I have already expressed my opinion on this subject in treating of rent, and have now only further to add, that rent is a creation of value, as I understand that word, but not a creation of wealth.
Population regulates itself by the funds which are to employ it, and therefore always increases or diminishes with the increase or the diminution of capital. Every reduction of capital is therefore necessarily followed by a less effective demand for corn, by a fall in price, and by diminished cultivation.
Every transaction in commerce is an independent transaction.
I have endeavoured to show that the ability to pay taxes depends, not on the gross money value of the mass of commodities, nor on the net money value of the revenue of capitalists and landlords, but on the money value of each man's revenue compared to the money value of the commodities which he usually consumes.
Sufficiently rich to satisfy all my desires and the reasonable desires of all those about me.
Whenever the current of money is forcibly stopped, and when money is prevented from settling at its just level, there are no limits to the possible variations of the exchange.
It is David Ricardo's unique position in history that he was an innovating force in both capitalist and socialist thought.
The variation in the value of money, however great, makes no difference in the rate of profits;...
If English money was of the same value then as before, Hamburgh money must have risen in value. But where is the proof of this?
If I discover a manure which will enable me to make a piece of land produce 20 per cent more corn, I may withdraw at least a portion of my capital from the most unproductive part of my farm.
It has therefore been justly observed that however honestly the coin of a country may conform to its standard, money made of gold and silver is still liable to fluctuations in value, not only to accidental, and temporary, but to permanent and natural variations, in the same manner as other commodities.
If a tax on malt would raise the price of beer, a tax on bread must raise the price of bread.
David Ricardo is without doubt the greatest representative of classical political economy. He carried his work begun by Smith to the farthest point possible without choosing one or the other of the roads which led out of the contradiction inherent in it.
Marx's economic teachings are essentially a garbled rehash of the theories of Adam Smith and, first of all, of Ricardo.
A BOUNTY on the exportation of corn tends to lower its price to the foreign consumer, but it has no permanent effect on its price in the home market.
It has been my endeavour to show in this work that a fall of wages would have no other effect than to raise profits.
Possessing utility, commodities derive their exchangeable value from two sources: from their scarcity, and from the quantity of labour required to obtain them.