In this chapter I consider various aspects of Ricardo's mature analysis of distribution and accumulation. In the first section, I show that Ricardo's later theoretical objective (after the Essay) remained one of demonstrating a falling rate of profit in consequence of progressively diminishing agricultural returns; I argue that there is no mystery surrounding his retention of the (developed) ‘agricultural’ model; and I investigate the connection between the falling rate of profit analysis and Ricardo's case against agricultural protection.

In the second section, devoted to Ricardo's treatment of wages, I establish that the Principles contains evidence of two conflicting doctrines, namely the natural wage analysis and the ‘new view’ analysis; I argue that it is only the natural wage analysis which is consistent with Ricardo's central thesis on ‘permanent’ changes in profitability, and with his characteristically ‘discrete’ style of analysis; I speculate on the reasons for the inclusion of the ‘new view’ passages in the Principles; and I consider whether Ricardo's position changed in later years.

The ‘law of markets’, commonly interpreted as the doctrine that ‘supply creates its own demand’, provides the subject matter for the third section. It was this powerful doctrine, incorporating Ricardo's vision of real economic behaviour, which supported his ‘prediction’ of virtually unlimited economic growth, without any ‘permanent’ fall in profitability, in a British economy open to the free importation of corn. I recount the story of Ricardo's quite remarkable attachment to the ‘law’; I comment on the implications for his reputation as an ‘applied’ economist; and I tender an explanation as to why the doctrine came to hold such a powerful attraction for him. A brief conclusion follows.