ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the claim that Considerations on the Importation of Foreign Corn (CIFC) contains the germ of the principle of comparative advantage. It also examines the Robert Torrens's role in the elaboration of this principle. The chapter traces the implications, for trade and welfare, of the numerical example of the exchange of cloth and wine between England and Portugal formulated by David Ricardo in his Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. His memorable formulation of comparative advantage and the gains from trade warrants the attribution of this fundamental principle of international trade to him rather than any of his predecessors. The chapter considers the vital role in the further elaboration of comparative advantage played by the most important of Ricardo's successors in the British classical school, John Stuart Mill. It analyses Mill's observations, inspired by the statesmen and economists who preceded him, that comparative advantage can be created by means of temporary tariff protection.
