Friedrich List Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Friedrich List - Essay Example 6). List claims that his theory of â€Å"National System† is based on historical empiricism. Therefore, though he agrees with the Classical School of Economy on the point that global free marketplaces are desirable, he seems to be concerned about the monopolist influence of the strongest economy on the countries of weaker economy. Merely one century after the industrial revolution had began to force the European nations to seek for newer and cheaper sources of raw materials in order to feed their ever booming mills and factories, List foretold the economic imperialism of the technological industry-based economies of the world. Therefore, the prerequisite for a country’s participation in the global free marketplace, as List suggests, is to reach the level of the leading nation. It may seem that List is advocating for such criteria of participation in the global free marketplace, which will mostly impossible for the countries of weaker economies to fulfill. On the surface level, it seems that there must be some nations who will never be able to attain the level of the leading nations. ... Throughout his whole life, List had sought for individuality. This tendency provoked him to adopt his father’s business of tannery. Instead, he joined the post of a clerk in the public service and later he became the under-secretary in a ministerial department in 1816. Subsequently he became a professor of political administration at the University of Tubigen and a deputy to the Wurttemberg Chamber where he strongly raised his voice for administrative reforms (Henderson, 1983, pp. 4-5). His rebellion against the administrative conventions at the Wurttemberg Chamber earned him ten months’ imprisonment in the Jail of Asperg. In 1824, h escaped from the imprisonment and immigrates to America where he gathered experiences as a landholder from farming which inspired him to look deep into the economic infrastructure of a country. Furthermore, he claimed that Alexander Hamilton’s works inspired him a lot to view the economy of a country as a ‘National Systemâ€⠄¢. Indeed, during his stay in Germany, his experience with the arbitrary bureaucratic political system assisted him to perceive the political dimension of economy and the importance of the political system’s role in people economic welfare of the common people who are not directly attached to politics (Henderson, 1983, pp. 13-15). For List, â€Å"the nation is the most important link between the individual and mankind† (â€Å"Frederick List†, 1968, pars. 6). This of concept of List about the indispensability of politics from economy later became realized more by Henry Clay’s â€Å"American System†. During his stay in Pennsylvania in America, he wrote â€Å"Outlines of a New System of Political Economy† and published it 1827. In this pamphlet, he