List, F. (1841). Das nationale System der politischen Ökonomie. English translation: The National System of Political Economy (Sampson S. Lloyd, tr., 1885).
List’s masterwork and the foundational text of the infant-industry-protection tradition. Written after his years in the United States (1825 to 1832), during which he directly studied Hamilton’s American System, the book argues that backward countries cannot develop new industries in the presence of more advanced competitors without state intervention, especially tariff protection of infant industries, until they are strong enough to compete. List advocated abolishing Germany’s internal tariffs (achieved through the Zollverein customs union) while protecting against foreign, especially British, competition. The book was widely republished in Germany after his death and exercised powerful influence on Bismarck’s protectionist commercial policy from 1879.