David Ricardo was once described by Marx as representing the “complete and final expression” of “classical political economy”; his On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation is his opus magnum.

It appears that Ricardo began to plan the work in 1815, at the insistence of James Mill. Ricardo did not find writing easy. “I make no progress in the difficult art of composition,” he wrote to Malthus in February 1816; and then again in the May of that year: “I find the greatest difficulty to avoid confusion in the most simple of my statements.” In the November he wrote to Mill: “I have an anxious desire to produce something worth publishing, but that I unaffectedly fear will not be in my power.” Mill had to badger him throughout the writing process, encouraging him in his efforts and urging him on in the project. Both Mill’s son (John Stuart) and Ricardo’s own brother expressed the opinion after Ricardo’s death that had it not been for Mill senior’s efforts Ricardo would never have finished the work. In the end it was published in April 1817. A second edition, practically identical to the first, was published in February 1819; a third, incorporating significant changes (of which more below), in May 1821.

More (pdf, 61 KB): An introductory note