Thomas Robert Malthus and David Ricardo
讲述了马尔萨斯与李嘉图始于1811年的长期合作与友谊,两人虽对社会愿景看法不同,但通过持续辩论共同推动了对经济的理解,展现了人际沟通的困难与可能。
This article will describe the enduring relationship between Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo initiated by a letter Malthus sent to Ricardo in June 1811. It was, very likely, the most remarkable and most fruitful collaboration in the history of economics. It appears that their long and intimate collaboration, and their friendship as well, thrived on their continual disputations. They were two men obsessed by a common enthusiasm, tirelessly pursuing a common goal: to understand the economy. But they did not share a common vision of the good society and thus were condemned to wrestle interminably, though remarkably fruitfully, over the roles of the social classes. Their struggles to convey to each other their views of the forces that drove their economy are an inspiring case study in both the difficulty and the possibility of human communication.