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43.: ricardo to malthus1 - David Ricardo, The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, Vol. 6 Letters 1810-1815 [1810]

Edition used:

The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, ed. Piero Sraffa with the Collaboration of M.H. Dobb (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2005). Vol. 6 Letters 1810-1815.

Part of: The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, 11 vols (Sraffa ed.)

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43.

ricardo to malthus1

My dear Sir

I believe I must not think of Mr. Talbot’s house, but I cannot deny myself the pleasure of accepting your kind invitation for saturday next—I will be with you at the usual hour.

That we have experienced a great increase of wealth and prosperity since the commencement of the war, I am amongst the foremost to believe; but it is not certain that such increase must have been attended by increased profits, or rather an increased rate of profits, for that is the question between us. I have little doubt however that for a long period, during the interval you mention,2 there has been an increased rate of profits, but it has been accompanied with such decided improvements of agriculture both here and abroad,—for the French revolution was exceedingly favorable to the increased production of food, that it is perfectly reconcileable to my theory. My conclusion is that there has been a rapid increase of Capital which has been prevented from shewing itself in a low rate of interest by new facilities in the production of food.—

I quite agree, that an increased value of particular commodities occasioned by demand has a tendency to occasion an increased circulation, but always in consequence of the cheapness of some other commodities. It is therefore their cheapness which is the immediate cause of the introduction of additional money.

I have not been home since I recd. your letter,1 I will look at the passage you refer me to in Adam Smith, and will consider of the other matters in your letter, so as to be prepared to give you my theory when we meet.

The facts you have extracted from Wetenhall’s tables are curious and are hardly reconcileable to any theory. I attribute many of them to the state of confusion into which Europe has been plunged by the extent, and nature of the war,—and it would be quite impossible to reason correctly from them without calculating what the state was of the real as well as the computed exchange during the periods referred to. Pray make my best respects to Mrs. Malthus and believe me

Truly Yours

David Ricardo

[1 ]Addressed: ‘To / The Revd. T R Malthus/East India College/ Hertford’; postmark, 1813.

MS at Albury.—Letters to Malthus, V, where it is misdated 1810.

[2 ]Probably 1793 to 1813: cp. above, II, 282 and below, p. 168.

[1 ]Malthus’s letter is wanting.