ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that List and Hamiltons infant industry argument is built upon the philosophy and empiricism of predecessors from the eighteenth century, in this case: the local administrators in the Austrian Netherlands. It claims that applying the concept in analysing the period that preceded the Industrial Revolution yields valuable new insights for the wider research on government interference and economic development. The chapter explores whether the Austrian Netherlandss administrators were indeed trying to develop an economic policy that favoured new industries and use this new perspective to gauge the wider significance of government interference for the economic development of the Southern Netherlands. Research into the eighteenth-century Austrian Netherlands has shown that Williamson has been too quick to cast off the early modern period. The administration operated on the basis of a number of overarching economic goals, specifically tailored to the local economy.
