David Ricardo
David Ricardo was born in England in 1772. He was a businessman from the age of fourteen. He made a large fortune as a wealthy stockbroker and landholder. In 1799, at the age of 27, Ricardo read Adam Smith's `Wealth of Nations', and for the next ten years he studied economics closely.
Ricardo retired from business at the age of 42 to become an economist. In his major work, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Ricardo developed the principle of comparative advantage, which states that countries will be better off if they specialize in producing goods where they have a lower opportunity cost. Ricardo was a strong defender of free trade as a way to make everyone better off.
Ricardo practiced his theories as a member of the British Parliament, where he opposed the Corn Laws, which restricted grain imports. Ricardo died in 1823.
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