ABSTRACT
Born as the son of a white tanner Friedrich was supposed to follow his father. However, his parents realized very quickly that he should become an official. Two major trends suggest re-reading Friedrich List’s contributions: globalization and technological change driven by digitalization. When reflecting on Friedrich List’s ideas on integration and trade, it becomes clear that his work contains a broad variety of insights into the benefits, but also challenges, of globalization and technological progress. Friedrich List could therefore be seen as a visionary of the concept of a social market economy. In particular, his leitmotiv “Through Wealth to Freedom” is linked to the later vision of one of the godfathers of social market economy and first minister for economic affairs in post war Germany, Ludwig Erhard: “Wohlstand fur alle” (Prosperity for Everybody).
