The example Ricardo gave for comparative advantage was Portuguese wine for English cloth.

More than two centuries later, Joan Robinson reexamined comparative advantage using Ricardo's original example. How had such trade affected the two economies - Portugal staying a more agricultural society, whereas in England, textiles served as one of the backbones for the country's industrialization. The analysis Robinson came up with should be obvious - both countries did not benefit by the trade of cloth for wine, it had been much more to England's advantage, and Portugal would have been better off staving off free trade and building up its textile and industrial base. The original example given for the benefits of comparative advantage for all parties turned out to itself be a fallacy.