David Ricardo (1772-1823) was born in England to a Jewish family and was educated in London and Amsterdam before beginning work with his father at the London Stock Exchange when he was 14 years old. Ricardo split from his father’s business in 1793 when he married a quaker, which his family did not support. Through his own work at the London Stock Exchange, Ricardo became wealthy and retired to a country estate in 1814 where he continued to write about his developing economic interests that he had cultivated over the decade prior. Inspired by his reading of Adam Smith and interactions with Thomas Malthus, Ricardo developed various economic theories, including work on comparative advantage and the theory of rent. He published Principles of Political Economy and Taxation in 1817 which encouraged the growth of his following, called the “Classical” or “Ricardian school.”
Ricardo maintained a long friendship with John Stuart Mill’s father, James Mill. James Mill encouraged Ricardo to pursue election to parliament, a position Ricardo held to the end of his life. Unsurprisingly given his relationship with Mill’s father, Ricardo appears in John Stuart Mill’s autobiography, where he describes Ricardo as having a “benevolent countenance, and kindliness of manner” (Mill ch. II). In addition to knowing Ricardo personally, James Mill required his son to read Ricardo’s works as a part of his education (Mill ch. I), and John Stuart Mill engaged with Ricardo’s ideas in later writings.
Sources
“David Ricardo.” University of Minnesota Duluth, https://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/jhamlin/4111/Ricardo/David%20Ricardo.htm. Accessed 22 May 2024.
Stead, David R. “David Ricardo.” Economic History Association, https://eh.net/encyclopedia/david-ricardo/. Accessed 22 May 2024.
Image source
https://mises.org/mises-daily/many-errors-david-ricardo