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From Gwydion Williams

I felt Paserman’s analysis was just a rediscovery of a small part of what Friedrich List was saying in the early 19th century, well before Karl Marx.

He proposed a three-stage economic model. First open up to simple trade, to get the economy started. Then put up protectionist barriers, to let infant industries grow strong. Finally open up to world trade when you are ready.

Adam Smith said that Britain industrialised despite having strong protectionism in the relevant period (mostly reckoned as 1760 to 1830). List said that Britain needed protectionism, that the US was right to be protectionist in that era and that Germany should do the same. Which they did, industrialising under Bismarck.

Given the accuracy of List’s predictions, it is odd that he gets overlooked.

Peterborough, Northamptonshire, UK