ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses seven deadly economic sins that are contained in Friedrich List’s writings. They are: bribery or corruption, hard physical labour, especially excessively hard work for women and children, exploitation of workers by factory owners and other employers, trade in slaves and in drugs, avarice and speculation, the destruction of nature and the environment, and nationalist hubris and national selfishness. Each of these deadly sins can, taken in turn, lead to severe physical and psychic damage, permanently harming human dignity; we only need to think of slave labour and drug abuse. List thought that excessive consumption of liquor not only harmed the morals and customs of a people, but should also be seen as one of the great causes of poverty. Regarding economic systems, one can choose between Adam Smith, Karl Marx and Friedrich List: capitalism, socialism or the social market economy.
