Part of: The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, 11 vols (Sraffa ed.) The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, Vol. 2 Notes on Malthus

David Ricardo and T. R. Malthus were friends despite a contentious divergence of opinion on many political economic issues. This volume contains the formal remnants of their differences. Ricardo analyzes, issue-by-issue, his points of divergence to Malthus’s Principles of Political Economy Malthus’s contributions to political economics generally concern his bleak forecast that a geometrically growing population would surpass the arithmetically growing capacity of essential natural resources.

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Citation

The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, ed. Piero Sraffa with the Collaboration of M.H. Dobb (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2005). Vol. 2 Notes on Malthus.

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Adam Smith (Author)

The system of “natural liberty,” that is free trade, reasonable taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice, was the foundation of national prosperity for Adam Smith, and Ricardo’s musings on economics in general and trade in particular were built upon Smith’s ideas.

Thomas Robert Malthus (Author)

The economist and moralist Malthus and Ricardo had a debate based on different conceptions about the nature of economics, Thomas defended protectionism, while Ricardo defended free trade.
Sir Robert Peel (Author)

British Prime Minister who abolished the Corn Laws in 1846, ending most of the protectionism in the United Kingdom.

Critical Responses

Essay

Economics and Ideology: Aspects of the Post-Ricardian Literature

Samuel Hollander

A number of criticisms to Ricardo’s central ideas are discussed in this essay.

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Essay

Searching for Capitalism in the Wreckage of Globalization

Oren Cass

In this article the author argues that Ricardo’s concept of comparative advantage is not of general application.

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Connected Readings

Book

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Cannan ed.), in 2 vols.

Adam Smith

Like all other classical economists, David Ricardo’s works are based on the pathbreaking work of Adam Smith.

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Book

Principles of Political Economy (Ashley ed.)

John Stuart Mill

Some of the most consequential debates on principles of economics were the ones that Ricardo had with Malthus, for instance, on the concept of economic rent.

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Econlib Article

Comparative Advantage

Donald J. Boudreaux

In this post, Don explains the principle of comparative advantage first derived by David Ricardo in 1817.

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Law & Liberty Essay

Sit Hamilton, Sit! Now Stay! Good Hamilton.

Hans Eicholz

In this article, the author argues that the objective conception of value in Ricardo limits the validity of comparative advantages.

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