Friedrich List's Adam Smith Historiography and the Contested Origins of Development Theory

Abstract

Friedrich List's National System of Political Economy continues to be positively received in ipe, where it is treated as a seminal text in development theory. Only a handful of ipe scholars have questioned the specific history of economic ideas through which List asserted the distinctiveness of his own position. They do so by showing that he deliberately put words into the mouths of his classical political economy predecessors to provide himself with something to argue against. His alleged authority on development issues rests in particular on purposefully caricaturing the arguments of Adam Smith. I use this article to suggest a plausible reconstruction of the route to List's Smith, one which recognises the possible intermediary influence of the early Dugald Stewart, John Ramsay McCulloch, the Earl of Lauderdale and Georg Sartorius. By following this complex trail to List's rather eccentric Smith historiography, it becomes possible to break down one of the most important oppositions in ipe pedagogy: that between List's National System and Smith's Wealth of Nations. It also becomes necessary to engage more circumspectly with List's history of economic ideas when searching for the origins of contemporary critically minded development theory.

Notes

 1 For example, J Frieden, Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century, London: Norton, 2006, pp 64–65; and M Veseth, Globaloney: Unraveling the Myths of Globalization, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005, p 47.

 2 F List, National System of Political Economy, Vol I, The History, New York: Cosimo Classics, 2005, pp 107, 121; List, National System of Political Economy, Vol II, The Theory, New York: Cosimo Classics, 2005, pp 37–38, 65–66, 87–89, 188–192, 216–217; and List, National System of Political Economy, Vol III, The Systems and the Politics, New York: Cosimo Classics, 2005, pp 44–52, 71, 110.

 3 For example, S Strange, ‘Wake up, Krasner! The world has changed’, Review of International Political Economy, 1(2), 1994, p 211; R Palan & J Abbott with P Deans, State Strategies in the Global Political Economy, London: Pinter, 1999, p 80; and D Balaam & M Veseth, Introduction to International Political Economy, London: Pearson, 2008, p 34.

 4 M Shafaeddin, ‘Friedrich List and the infant industry argument’, in KS Jomo (ed), The Pioneers of Development Economics: Great Economists on Development, London: Zed, 2005, p 43.

 5 D Levi-Faur, ‘Friedrich List and the political economy of the nation-state’, Review of International Political Economy, 4(1), 1997, p 154; and C Winch, ‘Listian political economy: social capitalism conceptualised?’, New Political Economy, 3(2), 1998, p 301.

 6 P Kenen, The International Economy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, p 225.

 7 P Krugman, ‘Counter-response: proving my point’, in D-S Cho & H-C Moon (eds), From Adam Smith to Michael Porter: Evolution of Competitiveness Theory, Singapore: World Scientific, 2000, pp 53, 54.

 8 E Helleiner, ‘Economic nationalism as a challenge to economic liberalism? Lessons from the 19th century’, International Studies Quarterly, 46(3), 2002, p 311.

 9 R Gilpin, US Power and the Multinational Corporation, London: Macmillan, 1975, p 21.

10 R Gilpin, The Political Economy of International Relations, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987.

11 List, National System III, p 26; and List, National System II, p 236.

12 List, National System II, pp 25–27.

13 List, National System I, p 31.

14 S Gill & D Law, The Global Political Economy: Perspectives, Problems and Policies, Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1988, p 26.

15 A Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, 1982, VII.iii.1.1.

16 Ibid, III.2.27, VII.ii.4.8.

17 Ibid, I.i.2.1.

18 P Force, Self-Interest before Adam Smith: A Genealogy of Economic Science, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp 66–67.

19 A Payne & N Phillips, Development, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2010, p 38.

20 R Backhouse, Economists and the Economy: The Evolution of Economic Ideas, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1994, p 89.

21 List, National System II, pp 34–35.

22 Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments, II.i.5.3.

23 Ibid, I.iii.1.14.

24 G Vaggi, ‘Adam Smith's socio-economic man—and the macro-foundations of microeconomics’, in T Aspromourgos & J Lodenwijks (eds), History and Political Economy: Essays in Honour of PD Groenewegen, London: Routledge, p 30.

25 WO Henderson, Friedrich List: Economist and Visionary 1789–1846, London: Frank Cass, 1986, p 165.

26 F List, ‘Some extracts from the author's preface to the first edition’, in F List, The National System of Political Economy, Fairfield, NJ: Augustus M Kelley, 1977, pp xxv–xxvi.

27 F List, The Natural System of Political Economy, trans and ed WO Henderson, London: Frank Cass, 1983, pp 17–18.

28 G Crane & A Amawi, The Theoretical Evolution of International Political Economy: A Reader, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, p 36.

29 CM Harlen, ‘A reappraisal of classical economic nationalism and economic liberalism’, International Studies Quarterly, 43(4), 1999, p 737.

30 List, National System I, pp 107, 121; List, National System II, pp 37–38, 65–66, 87–89, 188–192, 216–217, 243–245; and List, National System III, pp 44–52, 71, 110.

31 D Baldwin, Economic Statecraft, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985, p 87; and EM Earle, ‘Adam Smith, Alexander Hamilton, Friedrich List: the economic foundations of military power’, in P Paret (ed), The Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986, p 218.

32 List, National System II, pp 10–15, 220, 237–238.

33 G Crane, ‘Economic nationalism: bringing the nation back in’, Millennium, 27(1), 1998, pp 69–70.

34 Shafaeddin, ‘Friedrich List and the infant industry argument’, p 56.

35 AM Daastöl, ‘Friedrich List (1789–1846)’, in J Backhaus (ed), The Elgar Companion to Law and Economics, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2005, p 591.

36 J Viner, ‘Adam Smith and laissez-faire’, Journal of Political Economy, 35(2), 1927, pp 198–232, reprinted in JC Wood (ed), Adam Smith: Critical Assessments, Vol I, London: Routledge, 1993, p 154.

37 A Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, 1981, IV.ii.30.

38 M Elam, ‘National imaginations and systems of innovation’, in C Edquist (ed), Systems of Innovation: Technologies, Institutions and Organizations, London: Pinter, 1997, p 168.

39 Smith, Wealth of Nations, IV.ii.30.

40 List, National System II, p 237.

41 List, The Natural System of Political Economy, p 22.

42 See A Wyatt-Walter, ‘Adam Smith and the liberal tradition in international relations’, Review of International Studies, 22(1), 1996, p 8.

43 WO Henderson, ‘Editor's introduction’, in List, The Natural System of Political Economy, pp 10–11.

44 List, ‘Some extracts from the author's preface to the first edition’, p xxix.

45 JS Nicholson, ‘Introductory essay’, in A Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, London: T Nelson and Sons, 1901, pp 6–7.

46 List, National System I, p 56.

47 JR McCulloch, ‘Introductory discourse’, in A Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith LL.D., reprinted edition with original introduction by JR McCulloch, London: Longman and Co, 1838, p xlv.

48 K Tribe, ‘Adam Smith in English: from Playfair to Cannan’, in K Tribe (ed) advised by H Mizuto, A Critical Bibliography of Adam Smith, London: Pickering and Chatto, 2002, p 29.

49 List, National System II, p 27.

50 JS Nicholson, ‘Introductory essay’, in F List, The National System of Political Economy, Fairfield, NJ: Augustus M Kelley, 1977, p 2.

51 Nicholson, ‘Introductory essay’, 1901, p 7.

52 List, ‘Some extracts’, p xxx.

53 Nicholson, ‘Introductory essay’, 1977, p 4.

54 Henderson, ‘Editor's introduction’, p 13.

55 List, National System III, p 26.

56 Cited in IS Ross, ‘Introduction’, in A Smith, Essays on Philosophical Subjects, Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, 1982, p 265.

57 D Winch, Adam Smith's Politics: An Essay in Historiographic Revision, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978, pp 186–187.

58 D Stewart, Biographical Memoirs, of Adam Smith, LLD of William Robertson, DD and of Thomas Reid, DD read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Edinburgh: W Creech, Bell and Bradfute, 1811, p 130, emphasis in the original.

59 J Hollander, ‘Adam Smith 1776–1926’, Journal of Political Economy, 35(2), 1927, pp 165–167.

60 D Stewart, ‘Account of the life and writings of Adam Smith, LLD, from the transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’, in A Smith, Essays on Philosophical Subjects, Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, 1982, pp 269–332, IV.18.

61 W Grampp, ‘The liberal elements in English mercantilism’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 66(4), 1952, pp 473–485.

62 McCulloch, ‘Introductory discourse’, p xliv.

63 RDC Black, ‘Smith's contribution in historical perspective’, in T Wilson & A Skinner (eds), The Market and the State: Essays in Honour of Adam Smith, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976, p 46.

64 Backhouse, Economists and the Economy, pp 1–2.

65 G Hodgson, How Economics Forgot History: The Problem of Historical Specificity in Social Science, London: Routledge, 2001, pp 60–61.

66 L Greenfeld, The Spirit of Capitalism: Nationalism and Economic Growth, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001, p 182.

67 K Tribe, Strategies of Economic Order: German Economic Discourse, 1750–1950, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, p 139.

68 J Steuart, An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy, Edinburgh: Oliver Boyd, 1966.

69 N Koboyashi, James Steuart, Adam Smith and Friedrich List, Tokyo: Science Council of Japan, 1967, p 40.

70 I Hont, Jealousy of Trade: International Competition and the Nation State in Historical Perspective, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005, p 151.

71 K Tribe, Governing Economy: The Reformation of German Economic Discourse 1750–1840, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, p 145.

72 G Sartorius, Abhandlungen, die Elemente des National-Reichthums und die Staatswirthschaft Betreffend, Göttingen: JF Röwer, 1806.

73 Earl of Lauderdale, ‘Excerpts from An Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth’, in IS Ross (ed), On the Wealth of Nations: Contemporary Responses to Adam Smith, Bristol: Thoemnies Press, 1998, pp 121–130.

74 CW Hasek, The Introduction of Adam Smith's Doctrines into Germany, Honolulu, HI: University Press of the Pacific, 2002, p 76.

75 M Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp 51–52.

76 On which latter point, see M Dobb, Theories of Value and Distribution since Adam Smith: Ideology and Economic Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973, pp 45–47.

77 Sartorius, Abhandlungen, die Elemente des National-Reichthums.

78 Hasek, The Introduction of Adam Smith's Doctrines, p 77.

79 List, National System II, pp 25–26, 32–33, 70.

80 List, National System I, p 59; and National System II, pp 22, 53–54, 128, 169.

81 Henderson, Friedrich List, p 191.

82 List, National System II, p 132.

83 List, National System II, p 202. See also National System III, pp 28–29, 44.

84 See Smith, Wealth of Nations, II.iii.16 and II.iii.38, respectively.

85 Smith, Wealth of Nations, II.iii.6.

86 List, National System III, p 44.

87 Sartorius, Abhandlungen, die Elemente des National-Reichthums.

88 Hasek, The Introduction of Adam Smith's Doctrines, p 77.

89 List, National System II, pp 66–69.

90 Smith, Wealth of Nations, II.ii.94.

91 List, The Natural System of Political Economy, p 129.

92 HJ Bitterman, ‘Adam Smith's empiricism and the law of nature: I’, Journal of Political Economy, 48(4), 1940, p 520.

93 J Evensky, ‘The evolution of Adam Smith's views on political economy’, History of Political Economy, 21(1), 1989, pp 123–145, reprinted in Wood, Adam Smith, Vol VI, pp 382–383.

94 Viner, ‘Adam Smith and laissez faire’, p 164.

95 E Reinert & S Reinert, ‘Mercantilism and economic development: Schumpeterian dynamics, institution-building and international benchmarking’, in KS Jomo & E Reinert (eds), The Origins of Development Economics: How Schools of Economic Thought have Addressed Development, New Delhi: Tulika Books, 2005, p 15.

96 V Brown, ‘Metanarratives and economic discourse’, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 96(1), 1994, p 84.

97 W Tabb, Reconstructing Political Economy: The Great Divide in Economic Thought, London: Routledge, 1999, p 32.

98 Helleiner, ‘Economic nationalism as a challenge to economic liberalism’, p 308.