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Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow 502.: ricardo to maria edgeworth1[Answered by 510] - The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, Vol. 9 Letters 1821-1823

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502.: ricardo to maria edgeworth1[Answered by 510] - David Ricardo, The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, Vol. 9 Letters 1821-1823 [1821]

Edition used:

The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, ed. Piero Sraffa with the Collaboration of M.H. Dobb (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2005). Vol. 9 Letters 1821-1823.

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

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


502.

ricardo to maria edgeworth1
[Answered by 510]

My Dear Miss Edgeworth

You began your note2 with a little flattery which immediately disposed me to pay the utmost attention to its contents. I am however sorry to say that I cannot give you an opinion on a point so speculative as that which you have submitted to my consideration. On such a subject I should have little regard for any one’s opinion, and the advice which I would venture to give you, is to judge for yourself of the relative stability of the funds of the two countries, and to consider also their relative prices. Having done so keep your money in the French stocks or transfer it to the English as you may think most expedient, but I would by no means recommend to you to speculate on distant and uncertain events, and to be often transfering your money from one country to another.

Whether in selling out your French stock at an advanced price of 13 pct., and repurchasing 3 pct.., you would get a profit of some hundreds of pounds would of course depend on the price at which you formerly sold your 3 pcts. compared with that at which you would now repurchase them.

Although I can give no advice respecting the sale of your French Stock, I am of opinion that you should not leave your money in Mr. Delessert’s hands when you have sold, unless you are satisfied to remain for sometime without any interest. To be sure that you shall obtain the same amount of 3 pc..ts as you possessed before, you ought to buy the 3 pct. at the same time as you sell the French 5 pcts:. While your money is in Mr. Delessert’s hands both the English and French Stocks may rise considerably, and you may have to make a great sacrifice in purchasing either one or the other at a future time.—

I will only add that I am a holder of French Stock, and at present have no thought of parting with it. If it rose to 100—I might probably be tempted to bring the money to this country, and employ it in the purchase of land or on mortgage.—

Yours very truly

David Ricardo

[1 ]MS in the possession of Mrs. Harriet J. Butler.

[2 ]This note is wanting. Ricardo had presented her with a copy of Protection to Agriculture, 2nd ed., 1822. For this copy, inscribed ‘Miss Edgeworth from the author with his kindest regards’, see Catalogue 15 of H. Stevens, London, 1936, item 793.