RICARDO, DAVID

born , April 18/19, 1772, London, Eng. died Sept. 11, 1823, Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire English economist who gave systematized and classical form to the rising science of economics in the 19th century. His laissez-faire doctrines were typified in his Iron Law of Wages, which stated that all attempts to improve the real income of workers were futile and that wages perforce remained near the subsistence level. Additional reading Ricardo's Works and Correspondence, 10 vol., were edited by Piero Sraffa and M.H. Dobb (195155). His Principles of Political Economy and Taxation have appeared in several editions, including Everyman's Library. A good introduction to Ricardo is J.H. Hollander, David Ricardo: A Centenary Estimate (1910, reprinted 1960). A guide to Ricardo's opinions on economic matters is Oswald St. Clair, A Key to Ricardo (1957). For the serious student, two books by Mark Blaug are to be recommended: Ricardian Economics: A Historical Study (1958), covering the rise and fall of Ricardian economics in the first half of the 19th century; and Economic Theory in Retrospect, rev. ed. (1968), which contains a treatment of Ricardo's system in modern analytical terms, as well as further bibliographical references.