-->Nur um die Geschichte etwas zurecht zu rücken: Der ursprüngliche Denkansatz des komparativen (statt absoluten) Kostenvorteils im Außenhandel geht nicht auf Ricardo sondern auf Robert Torrens zurück. Letzterer schrieb zwei Jahre vor Ricardo:

"... suppose that there are in England, unreclaimed districts, from which corn might be raised at as small an expense of labor and capital, as from the fertile plains of Poland. This being the case, and all other things the same, the person who should cultivate our unreclaimed districts, could afford to sell his produce at as cheap a rate as the cultivator of Poland: and it seems natural to conclude, that if industry were left to take its most profitable direction, capital would be employed in raising corn at home, rather than bringing it in from Poland at an equal prime cost, and at much greater expense of carriage. But this conclusion, however obvious and natural it may, at first sight, appear, might, on closer examination, be found entirely erroneous. If England should have acquired such a degree of skill in manufactures, that, with any given portion of her capital, she could prepare a quantity of cloth, for which the Polish cultivator would give a greater quantity of corn, then she could, with the same portion of capital, raise from her own soil, then, tracts of her territory, though they should be equal, nay, even though they should be superior, to the lands in Poland, will be neglected; and a part of her supply of corn will be imported from that country." (Torrens, Robert (1815), Essay on the External Corn Trade, J. Hatchard, London.)

Ricardos Ausführungen sind hier im Original nachzulesen

Das war ein großer Denkfortschritt gegenüber Adam Smith, der noch schrieb:

“If a foreign country can supply us with a commodity cheaper than we ourselves can make it, better buy it of them with some part of the produce of our own industry, employed in a way in which we have some advantage.” (Smith, Adam (1776), An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations)

Auch für uns gilt rückblickend immer Newtons Wort:
“If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants....”

Wochenendgrüße