ABSTRACT
List was joined by his family in Paris in April 1838 and he stayed in the French capital until May 1840. He acted as a foreign correspondent for the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung, receiving a fee for each contribution. In 1839 he asked Cotta to raise the fee for a short article from 15 to 20 francs377 and he complained to Dr Kolb that his expenses allowance was inadequate. "Send me some money -lots of it - and you will get lots of news".378 He also contributed five long articles to Cotta's quarterly - the Deutsche VierteljahrschriJt - and translated Louis Napoleon's Les idees napo/eoniennes into German. These literary activities earned him a living but added little to his reputation. On the other hand The National System of Political Economy - written in Paris in 1839-40 and published by Cotta in May 1841379 - proved to be his major work. It was the most serious challenge yet made to the doctrines of free trade and laissez faire.
