David Ricardo (1772-1823), a British economist, was one of the most influential of the classical economists. He was also a successful businessman, financier and speculator, and amassed a considerable fortune.
Ideas associated with David Ricardo include:
The theory of comparative advantage, which showed that nations could benefit from free trade, even if a nation was less efficient at producing all kinds of goods than its trading partners.
Ricardian equivalence, an argument suggesting that in some circumstances the choice of a government to pay for spending using either taxes or deficit spending might have no effect on the economy.
