Ricardian Economics - How Ricardian Economics Is Used Today

How Ricardian Economics Is Used Today

Though David Ricardo was of the 19th century, many people use his work in everyday economics. Ricardo's theory on rent consisted mostly of an agricultural model featuring farmers and landowners. Since highly productive land was desired for more crops and the market would pay the same price for crops grown on both favorable and unfavorable land, farmers were eager to pay more for highly productive land to grow more crops for the extra money (Henderson 827).

Ricardo also had another influential theory: minimum wages. He knew that once the population rose more greatly, the demand for jobs would increase, making the wages decrease to a level that would not support people because many were willing to take the low-paying jobs to survive (St. Clair 9, Fusfeld 325). This observation of minimum wage work is especially true today when looking at the controversy with the enforcement of a minimum wage law. In Ricardo's book, On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, he is saying that the jobs we give more value to are paid better than those we do not value as much (11-2). To Ricardo, value had much to do with the cost of production, which included wages and profit (St. Clair 27) and how much you paid a worker affected the price you put on the item. He also believed the value of a product was related to the quality of labor necessary for the production (Principles of Political 5). An example of this would be paying a slightly higher price for an item that is handmade, rather than being manufactured. Though this is true, Ricardo also thought the labor or machine itself should be considered when selling an item and that a little of every item should be priced to include this factor of labor (St. Claire 24). Ricardo addressed many of the issues we face today in our economic world, such as minimum wage and rent (Fusfeld 325). These issues are perhaps as important today as they were in the 19th century, which is why David Ricardo's economic theories are still an important part of modern economics.