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David Ricardo: Business
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David Ricardo (1772-1823) was one of the most important British economists of the period around 1800. He was a businessman from the age of fourteen; in finance, made a large fortune, and retired from business at 42. From about 1799, Ricardo entered into controversy with the major British economists in a series of books and pamphlets and in his book,
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David Ricardo (April 19,1772- September 11, 1823), a British economist, was one of the most influential of the classical economists. He was ... a successful businessman, financier and speculator, and amassed a considerable fortune.
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In December 1793 Ricardo married Priscilla William, the daughter of a Quaker physician. Both sets of parents were aghast. Ricardo was expelled from his father's business, disinherited, and disowned by his parents. (He reconciled with his father only after his mother's death.) Ricardo broke with Judaism and began attending Protestant services; he apparently became an agnostic. He set up his own business marketing government securities and became very wealthy. He retired from business in 1814 to devote himself to scholarship, high society, and politics.
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The last of his works which Ricardo prepared for publication was a Plan for the Establishment of a National Bank, which he wrote in the Summer of 1823. It was published in February 1824, when Ricardo had been dead for about five months, and was seen through the press by his brother Moses. The plan (which Ricardo had already outlined in the Principles) consisted in taking the privilege of issuing paper money from the Bank of England, and entrusting it to a “National Bank,” which would have issued it on behalf of the Government. The Commissioners of this National Bank would have been granted total independence from the Government, and would have acted “as the general banker to all the public departments, and only to them” (IV, 289). They would have not been allowed to lend money directly to the Government, but only to buy Government securities “in the open market.” This scheme would, according to Ricardo, have made the issue of paper money more independent of the Government than it then was. The main effect of the plan would have been to deprive the Bank of England of the profits it derived from the issue of paper money, leaving it as an ordinary banking institution. This followed the conception, which Ricardo had entertained for a long time (see above), that the Bank of England was an unnecessary institution, making profits which “fairly belong to the public.” No inconvenience would have been caused to the public, even in case the Bank of England, in consequence of the plan, went out of business altogether.
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In 1819 Ricardo, having retired from business and become a landed proprietor, entered parliament as member for Portarlington. He was at first diffident and embarrassed in speaking, but gradually overcame these difficulties, and was heard with much attention and deference, especially when he addressed the House on economic questions. He probably contributed in a considerable degree to bringing about the change of opinion on the question of free trade which ultimately led to the legislation of Sir Robert Peel on that subject.
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Ricardo's work with the stock exchange made him quite wealthy, which allowed him to retire from business in 1814 at the age of 42. He then purchased and moved to Gatcombe Park, an estate in Gloucestershire.
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