David Ricardo Quotes

And this thesis is somewhat connected with general social and political observations, because it establishes the fact that the number of consumers is considerably larger than the number of producers, a fact which exercises a not inconsiderable social and political pressure.

The price of every thing rises and falls from time to time and place to place; and with every such change the purchasing power of money changes so far as that thing goes.

Economics is half psychology and half Grade Three arithmetic, and the U.S. does not now have either half right.

The diversification of the people's demand could not be followed by the state apparatus.

When you’re dealing with a commodity, high productivity means that nobody makes any money.

Supply and demand don’t work on a legislative schedule.

Gasoline prices are a direct reflection of the cost of the raw materials to produce the gasoline, no different than any other product that you would buy, whether it's a good or some other consumable, or it's a luxury item. It's all a function of what do the raw materials cost.

You don't drive an economy by consuming - the consumer is not the engine, the consumer is the caboose.

The interest of the landlords is always opposed to the interest of every other class in the community.

It’s hard to be a fan of the free market these days when the free market has just driven the economy over the cliff.

It [industrial capitalism] came to be believed in as a gospel, ... from which it was regarded as little short of immoral to depart.

Competition—ruthless, unforgiving, to-the-death competition—is a crucial feature of capitalism.

… in May, 1917, wheat was selling in Chicago at $3.25 a bushel and the consumer was paying for his bread on that basis, although the official estimate of the Department of Agriculture of the average price actually received by the farmer for his crop was but $1.44 a bushel.

The opinions that the price of commodities depends solely on the proportion of supply and demand, or demand to supply, has become almost an axiom in political economy, and has been the source of much error.

This growing inequality … is not only morally wrong, it’s bad economics, because when middle class families have less to spend, guess what. Businesses have fewer consumers.

Unless I am presented with evidence that the producers of oil, coal or hides were unable to compete successfully without reduction of wages, then they do not need a duty and their articles should go on the free list..

If my countrymen should ever wish for the honour of having among them a gentry enormously wealthy, let them sell their Farms & pay rack's rents; the Scale of the Landlords will rise as the tenants is depress'd, who will soon become poor, tattered, dirty and abject in Spirit.

Let the market, not politicians, determine the flow of rice, oil and other commodities. Lower, more stable prices will ensue.

This is the paradox of thrift: belt-tightening causes people to lose their jobs, because other people are not buying what they produce, so their debt burden rises rather than falls.

Most economists, when modeling market behavior, tend to sweep major fluctuations under the rug and assume they are anomalies. What I have found is that major rises and falls in prices are actually inevitable.

If we care about family stability, if we care about community stability, then we need fewer evictions.

Markets have built in inefficiencies, serious inefficiencies which are well known.

Supply and demand eventually rebalance. We've seen this again and again and again.

Less tension in the Middle East is always a positive, and any drop in gas prices will essentially act as a tax break for consumers going into the holiday shopping season.

I don't think we can fix poverty without fixing housing, and I don't think we can address housing without understanding landlords.