What is David Ricardo?
{{Infobox economist <!-- Economist category --> | school_tradition = [[Classical economics]] <!-- Image --> | image = Portrait of David Ricardo by Thomas Phillips.jpg | image_size = 240px | caption = Portrait of David Ricardo by [[Thomas Phillips]], circa 1821. This painting shows Ricardo, aged 49, just two years before his early death. <!-- Information --> | name = David Ricardo | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1772|04|18}} | birth_place = [[London]], [[England]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1823|09|11|1772|04|18}} | death_place = [[Gatcombe Park]], [[Gloucestershire]], England | nationality = British | field = | contributions = [[Ricardian equivalence]], [[labour theory of value]], [[comparative advantage]], [[Diminishing returns|law of diminishing returns]], [[Economic rent]]<ref>Miller, Roger LeRoy. ''Economics Today''. Fifteenth Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education. page 559</ref> }} '''David Ricardo''' (18 April 1772 – 11 September 1823) was a [[British people|British]] political [[economist]]. He was one of the main thinkers behind [[Classical economics]], together with [[Thomas Robert Malthus|Thomas Malthus]], [[Adam Smith]] and [[John Stuart Mill]].<ref>Sowell, Thomas (2006). ''On classical economics''. New Haven, CT: [[Yale University Press]].</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://policonomics.com/david-ricardo/|title=David Ricardo - Policonomics|publisher=}}</ref> Today, he is mostly known for his theory of [[comparative advantage]]. This theory suggests that a nation should concentrate its resources only in [[industry|industries]] where it is ''most'' internationally [[competition|competitive]] and [[trade]] with other [[country|countries]] to obtain [[product]]s not produced nationally. Ricardo promoted the idea of extreme industry specialization by nations, to the point of dismantling internationally competitive and otherwise profitable industries. In this thinking Ricardo assumed the exist