What impact did david ricardo have on history?

Answer 1

David Ricardo contributed the theory of comparative advantage, arguing free

trade of countries and specialization from certain individuals and groups. Ricardo was a member of British Parliament and presented his theories among his peers

as a way of helping the British economy. The Ricardian theory of comparative advantage also became a basic constituent of neoclassical trade theory. Any undergraduate course in trade theory includes expansions of Ricardo's example of four numbers in for form of a two commodity, two country model. Ricardo intended to show by this classic example the benefits of free trade from comparative advantage, as in his example there is one country who is more proficient in producing both commodities relative to the other country. Adam Smith would likely reason, by logic of absolute advantage, that there would be no incentive for trade between the two countries. This model was expanded to many-country and many-commodity cases and also to include migration of people between countries. Major general results were obtained by the beginning of 1960's by McKenzie[25] and Jones[26], including his famous formula.