When economics was first born, almost all economists were amateur economists, whether Adam Smith in Britain or Say and Bastiat in France. At that time, there was no economics department in the university, and the government did not set up economic research and consulting institutions. If you want to do economic research, you have to find yourself a job first. Only by solving the problems of life can we talk about studying economics. Ricardo, a British classical economist, is such a typical example. He may be the richest economist in history.

In the study of economic theory, david ricardo is a late bloomer. At the age of 27, he first read Smith's research on the nature and causes of national wealth, and published his first economic paper at the age of 37. Later, he couldn't accept it. During his short academic career in 14, he left a lot of books, articles, notes, letters and speeches for future generations. Among them, The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation published by 18 17 is the most famous. Ricardo's works are not as rigorous, fluent and gorgeous as Smith's, but Principles of Political Economy and Taxation comprehensively discusses the operating mechanism of capitalist mode of production in his time with a more refined theoretical framework, more realistic language and examples, making him a master of British classical political economy and the greatest economist at the beginning of19th century. Ricardo set up a special chapter in Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, focusing on international trade, and put forward the famous theory of comparative advantage. Since everyone has studied political economy in middle school, David Ricardo's name is probably more famous in China than in any other country. Ricardo was born in London on April 1772. He's Jewish. Some scholars say that the reason why his later works like abstract deductive reasoning is related to his Jewish ancestry.

Ricardo's father is a rich securities broker, so although Ricardo didn't go to school seriously, his father has the money to invite any tutor he likes to give him lectures. /kloc-When he was 0/2 years old, he was sent by his father to study in Holland, which is the most developed area in the world. Two years later, Ricardo returned to England and began to go into business with his father.

If this situation continues, there will be another talented stockbroker in Britain. However, Ricardo fell in love with a girl who had different religious beliefs from her own family. My father strongly disagreed with this marriage, and the youthful Ricardo fell out with his old father. At the age of 2 1, my father broke off relations with Ricardo.

Ricardo must operate independently. He has been in the stock exchange for seven years, so he has his own circle of friends. With the help of these friends, his career soon got on the right track. In just a few years, he made a fortune. It is said that when he died, his assets were worth about 700,000 pounds (if converted into the currency of 20 13 years, it may be worth tens of millions of dollars) and his annual income was 28,000 pounds. One of his masterpieces was the successful purchase of a large number of national debt four days before the Battle of Waterloo. As a result, England defeated Napoleon and he made a fortune.

At this time, just getting rich can no longer make Ricardo see the meaning of life, so he began to look for something in the field of knowledge. At the age of 27, he happened to read Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations and became interested in political economy. However, it is not so much that he chose political economy as that it chose him. Because, two years ago, Britain announced the mint regulations, issued gold coins, stipulated the gold content, and silver coins were in the position of secondary coins; In 18 19, it was stipulated that bank notes of the Bank of England could be converted into gold bars at 182 1 and into gold coins at 1823, and the restrictions on the melting of gold coins and the export of gold bars were lifted. Since then, the gold coin standard system has been really implemented in Britain. The pound is experiencing violent fluctuations, and the young financier Ricardo can't help thinking about currency issues. Therefore, it is easy to understand that Ricardo's initial economic research focused almost entirely on the currency issue, and his first article was the price of gold.

This article has been published so far 1809. Ten years before that, from the age of 27 to 37, Ricardo studied political economy. In the meantime, he received selfless help from james mill, a famous British scholar and the founder of utilitarianism (that is, the father of Mill who later wrote On Freedom). Although Ricardo is a genius, he still has to learn to study problems in economics, especially to learn to write articles. For Ricardo, who didn't go to school well, this kind of training is painful, but it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, we won't see his 1 1 volume.