David Ricardo has been acclaimed – or vilified – for merits he would never have dreamt of, or sins for which he was entirely innocent. Entrenched mythology labels him as a utilitarian economist, an enemy of the working class, an impractical theorist, a scientist with ‘no philosophy at all’ and the author of a formalist methodological revolution. Exploring a middle ground between theory and biography, this book explores the formative intellectual encounters of a man who came to economic studies via other experiences, thus bridging the gap between the historical Ricardo and the economist’s Ricardo. The chapters undertake a thorough analysis of Ricardo’s writings in their context, asking who was speaking, what audience was being addressed, with what communicative intentions, using what kind of lexicon and communicative conventions, and starting with what shared knowledge. The work opens in presenting the different religious communities with which Ricardo was in touch. It goes on to describe his education in the leading science of the time – geology – before he turned to the study of political economy. Another chapter discusses five ‘philosophers’ – students of logic, ethics and politics – with whom he was in touch. From correspondence, manuscripts and publications, the closing chapters reconstruct, firstly, Ricardo's ideas on scientific method, the limits of the 'abstract science’ and its application, and, secondly, his ideas on ethics and politics and their impact on strategies for improving the condition of the working class. This book sheds new light on Ricardian economics, providing an invaluable service to readers of economic methodology, philosophy of economics, the history of economic thought, political thought and philosophy.

John P. Henderson's The Life and Economics of David Ricardo represents the first comprehensive personal and intellectual biography of the brilliant and influential British economist. Employing the talents of both a biographer and an economist, the author examines Ricardo's early years, his Sephardic origins and his employment in the London financial markets, as well as his later work on money and banking, international trade, economic instability and the theory of rent and value. Henderson also provides a thorough investigation of Ricardo's relationships with Thomas Robert Malthus and other classical economists. The Life and Economics of David Ricardo will be of interest not only to historians of economic thought and students of economics, but also to any economist working in the Ricardian or Classical Political Economy tradition.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Letters of David Ricardo to Thomas Robert Malthus, 1810-1823" by David Ricardo. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Despite his achievements, David Ricardo’s views on money have often been misunderstood and underappreciated. His advanced ideas had to wait until the twentieth century to be applied, and most historians of economic thought continue to consider him as an obsolete orthodox. The last book devoted in tribute to Ricardo as a monetary economist was published more than 25 years ago. Ricardo on Money encompasses the whole of Ricardo’s writings on currency, whether in print, unpublished notes, correspondence, or reported parliamentary speeches and evidence. The aim of the book is at rehabilitating Ricardo as an unorthodox theorist on money and suggesting his relevance for modern analysis. It is divided into three parts: history, theory and policy. The first describes the factual and intellectual context of Ricardo’s monetary writings. The second part puts the concept of standard centre stage and clarifies how, according to Ricardo, the standard regulated the quantity – and hence the value – of money. The final part shows that Ricardo relied on the active management of paper money rather than on flows of bullion and commodities to produce international adjustment and guarantee the security of the monetary system. Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the publication of On the Principles of Political Economy, and Taxation, this book will be of great interest to all historians of economic thought and scholars of monetary economics.

John A. González, Director of the Rozhkov Historical Research Centre, examines the evolution of the thought of the most important and prolific historian after V.O. Kliuchevskii. Rozhkov’s transformation from liberal thinker to social democrat is explored against the background of Russia's paradigmatic shift from tsarist regime to revolutionary government.

This period of Ricardoïs life witnessed his entrance into Parliament as a member of the House of Commons where he became an influential advocate of free trade through his opposition to Britainïs restrictive Corn laws. These letters preserve the intellectual give-and-take on many of the political economic issues of Ricardoïs age. The list of these eminent correspondents include: T. R. Malthus (1766-1834), an eminent economist, was a professor of History and Political Economy at the East India Company Haileybury College. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was the leading philosopher of utilitarianism. Jean Baptiste-Say (1762-1832) was a businessperson who became interested in economics and went on to provide significant contributions to the field, most notably Sayïs law of markets.

This book offers a new account of David Ricardo's political economy that is both scholarly and accessible. It provides a detailed overview of the secondary literature on Ricardo down to 2012, and discusses alternative perspectives on his work, including those of Marxians, neoclassicals and Sraffians.