David Ricardo, the greatest of the classical economists, was born in 1772. His father, a Jewish immigrant, was a member of the London stock exchange. Ricardo entered his fathers business at the age of 14. In 1973, he married and went into business of his own. The young Ricardo quickly made a large fortune.
In 1799, Ricardo read Adam Smiths The Wealth of Nations and developed an interest in political economy (as economics was then called). In 1809, his first writings on economics appeared. These were a series of newspaper articles on The High Price of Billion. In 1814 he retired from business to devote all his time to political economy.
Ricardos major work was Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. This work contains, among other things, a pioneering statement of the principle of comparative advantage as applied to international trade.
Ricardo showed why it was beneficial for both countries, for England tp export wool to Portugal and import wine in return< even though both products could be produced with less labour in Portugal.
The book covers the whole field of economics as it then existed. Ricardo held that the economy was growing toward a future steady state.
Ricardos book was extremely influential. For more than half a century thereafter, much of economics was an expansion of or a commentary on Ricardos work. Although Karl Marx eventually reached conclusions that differed radically from any of Ricardos views, his starting point was Ricardos theory of value and method of analyzing economic growth.
1. What was David Ricardo?
2. To what did he devote himself after retiring from business?
3. Ricardos works influenced the most famous economist Karl Marx, didnt they?
Management
| Vocabulary |
to assert ,
to avoid
authority ,
board
completion
employee ,
executive ,
executive director -
program director
financial controls
goal
human resources
leadership
manager -, ,
financial manager
first-line managers
functional manager
general manager ,
marketing manager
middle managers
personnel manager
product manager ,
product line manager -
project manager
top (executive) manager
sales manager
management - , ,
top management
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|
|
managerial
nonprofit organization
objective
practitioner ,
profit-making organization
project planning
promotions planning
skills
subordinate
to oversee , ,
to pursue
to refer to ,
to supervise , ,
| Vocabulary Exercises |
