David Ricardo

About

An English political thinker and writer, he is credited with such economic theories as the law of diminishing returns, the labor theory of value, and Ricardian equivalence. His famous work, On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, was published in 1817.

Before Fame

He began his career as a stockbroker. He later served in the House of Commons.

Trivia

He invented the economic theory of competitive advantage.

Family Life

He grew up with sixteen siblings. He married Priscilla Anne Wilkinson, a Quaker, at age twenty-one, and soon thereafter converted to Unitarianism. As a result, his Jewish parents disowned him.

Associated With

He is considered to be one of the founding philosophers of economics, along with Thomas Malthus.