Bentham and Ricardo's rendez-vous Manqués

This chapter discusses the possible influence of Bentham on Ricardo's economics through three rendez-vous. The first one was mediated by James Mill: we show that (i) if Mill ever had an influence on Ricardo early in their relationship, he was not yet Benthamian, and (ii) if this influence was to come later, Ricardo's comments prove that he was unconvinced by Mill’s description of how people act. The second rendez-vous manqué resulted from Ricardo's reading of Bentham's Sur les prix: this reading could not have influenced Ricardo's monetary thought, because (i) it occurred after Ricardo’s first monetary publications, and (ii) it led Ricardo to disagree with Bentham’s monetary analysis. The last rendez-vous was also manqué. Bentham blamed Ricardo for confusing "cost" with "value" in his Essay on Profits, but this reflects diverging approaches between the two authors. Accordingly, the assumption of Bentham’s influence on Ricardo’s economics seems hardly defendable.