David Ricardo, an English banker was also an important early economist. His most well known argument was that wages "naturally" tended towards a minimum level corresponding to the subsistence needs of the workers. The attraction of this idea for factory owners is evident. It also influenced Marx in his early pessimistic views about the possibility of workers benefiting from capitalism. Ricardo's views on the "labor theory of value" were also important in Marx's economic thought.

Published works of David Ricardo

1. On The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation
   
   
2. Essay on Profits
   
   
3. The High Price of Bullion
   
   
4. The Iron Law of Wages
   
   
5. Observations on some Passages in a Article in the Edinburgh Review, on the Depreciation of the Paper Currency; also Suggestions for securing to the Public a Currency as Invariable as Gold, with a very moderate Supply of that Metal, Being an Appendix to the Fourth edition of :"High Price of Bullion, etc. (London, John Murray, William Blackwood & M.N.Mahon, 1811).
   
   
6. Reply to Mr Bosanquet's Practical Observation on the Report of the Bullion Committee (London, John Murray, William Blackwood & M.N. Mahon, 1811).
   
   
7. Proposals for an Economical and Secure Currency; with Observations on the profits of the Bank of England, as they regard the Public and the Proprietors of Bank Stock (London, John Murray, 1816).
   
   
8. On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (London, John Murray, 1817).
   
   
9. On Protection in Agriculture (London, John Murray, 1822).
   
   
10. Mr Ricardo's Speech on Mr Western's Motion, for a Committee to consider the Effects produced by the Resumption of Cash payments, delivered on the 12th of June, 1822. (London, G. Harvey, 1822).
    
    
11. Plan for the Establishment of a National Bank (London, John Murray, 1824); published as an appendix to A National Bank the Remedy for the Evils attendant upon our Present System of Paper Currency by Samuel Richardson (London, Pelham Richardson, 1838).
    
    
12. The Works of David Ricardo, Esq., M.P. With a Notice of the Live and Writings of the Author, by J.R. McCulloch, (London, John Murray, 1826) -- includes previously unpublished Essay on the Funding System; Observations on Parliamentary Reform; and Speech on the Plan of Voting by Ballot.
    
    
13. The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, 11 volumes, edited by Piero Sraffa and M.H. Dobb, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1951-1973).