David Ricardo (1772-1823), British economist, born in London. He left school at the age of 14 to join a brokerage house; by his mid-20s he had amassed a fortune on the stock market. In his first work on economic theory, The High Price of Bullion, a Proof of the Depreciation of Bank Notes (1809), he argued for a sound currency based on metal. In his major work, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817), Ricardo offered several theories based on his studies of the long-range distribution of wealth. Ricardo feared increasing population would lead to a shortage of productive land; his theory of rent is based on relative land productivity. He supported the classical theory of international trade, emphasizing national specialization and freedom of competition. His labor theory of value, which influenced Karl Marx, states that wages are determined by the price of food, which is determined by the cost of production, itself

 determined by the amount of labor required to produce the food; in other words, labor determines value. For the last four years of his life Ricardo was a member of the British Parliament.

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According to Ricardo, rent is a payment to the landlord for the use of the original value of the soil. Thus, land possesses original and permanent properties with reference to its nature, situation, environment etc.

It is further stated that r

ent is a payment for the use of land alone both extensive and intensive cultivation.

According to Ricardo, land is graded according to its quality ranging from the best to the worst quality of land.

It is further assumed that the best quality land is always used or cultivated first and the poorest quality land is used or cultivated last.

According to Ricardo, no rent is paid if only the best land is used. Rent on good land arises only when the inferior quality land is brought to use, which situation is always necessitated by population increase.

The last cultivated land of the least grade does not yield any rent and is thus referred to as the marginal land or no rent land.

According to Ricardo, in case of intensive land use (cultivation) the law of diminishing returns sets in.