David ricardo (1772 ~ 1823) was a bourgeois economist in the heyday of the British industrial revolution. He inherited and developed the essence of Smith's economic theory and pushed classical political economy to the peak. He is an outstanding representative and finisher of British bourgeois classical political economy.

Ricardo was born in a bourgeois Jewish immigrant family in London, England, ranking third among seventeen children. I didn't have much education when I was a child. 14 years old, engaged in securities trading activities with his father. 16 years old, I became a famous figure in British financial circles. 1793 2 1 year-old Ricardo independently conducted securities trading activities and soon succeeded. At the age of 25, he had a fortune of 2 million pounds. At this time, Ricardo deeply felt the lack of early education, so he began to teach himself after his economic life was guaranteed. During a holiday in the countryside from 65438 to 0799, he came across Adam Smith's Study on the Nature and Causes of National Wealth, which was his first contact with economics. After that, he became interested in political economy and began to study economic issues. At that time, the prominent economic issues in Britain were "the price of gold" and "corn laws", and he enthusiastically participated in the debate on these two issues.

At the age of 37, he finished his first economics paper. 10 years later, he gained a high reputation in this field.

Ricardo's work in the stock exchange made him very rich. He retired at the age of 42 in 18 14.

18 19, Ricardo bought a seat representing Ireland in the upper house of the British Parliament. He held this position until his death. As a member of Parliament, Ricardo supported free trade and abolished the corn laws, which was designed to protect British domestic agriculture.

The "gold price dispute" occurred at the end of 18. Due to the war against Napoleon, Britain was in financial difficulties, and the government used a large number of bank notes to make up the financial deficit, which led to the rise of gold prices and the depreciation of bank notes. Ricardo published "The Price of Gold" anonymously in the Morning Post, which caused the so-called "Gold Price Debate". The debate is divided into "metal faction" and "anti-metal faction". Ricardo is the leader of the metal faction. Based on the theory of money quantity, he believes that the reason for the rise of gold price is the excessive issuance of bank notes. From the perspective of safeguarding the interests of the industrial bourgeoisie, he demanded a monetary system with stable currency value.

Ricardo died in September of 1823 at the age of 5 1. He died suddenly, and an infection in a small ear took the life of the genius.