Determining the Laws which Regulate the Distribution of Income: David Ricardo
The contributions of David Ricardo to the further elaboration of the surplus approach are so important that his role in British classical political economy can hardly be overstated. As he explained in the Preface to his Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, published in 1817, he shared in the “great admiration,... in common with all those who acknowledge the importance of the science of Political Economy”, which the “profound work” of Adam Smith “so justly excites” (Ricardo 1951-73, I: 6). His work focuses attention particularly on those passages in the writings of Smith “from which he sees reason to differ” (1951-73, I: 6).