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The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought
Volume 22, Issue 5, Sep 2015
Pages 791-817
- DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2015.1074714
- Print ISSN: 0967-2567
- Online ISSN: 1469-5936
Ricardo's discovery of comparative advantage revisited: a critique of Ruffin's account
Abstract
In an influential paper, Ruffin has attempted to reconstruct the circumstances of Ricardo's discovery of the law of comparative advantage. Ruffin's paper has inspired a number of further contributions on the precise nature, logical structure, and analytical significance of Ricardo's formulation of the law of comparative advantage. This paper re-examines Ruffin's reconstruction, and in particular his interpretation of Ricardo's three letters of October 1816 and suggests that it lacks textual and contextual support.