ABSTRACT
Friedrich List was a leading 19th-century German political economist who put forward a theory of “national economics” based on the growth of “productive resources”. He believed that a nation’s competitiveness lay in developing its productive resources rather than boasting its current exchange value. An overview of List’s influences on the modern evolution of China, while interesting for academic inquiries in economic history, may also demonstrate what this great development strategist can offer to the Chinese in their ongoing transformation. The Chinese were attracted to Friedrich List primarily because of List’s emphasis on tariff protection for catch-up industrialization. It is interesting to review in some detail the thoughts of Chinese economists regarding tariff and related development issues, so as to discern the actual influence of List’s theory on the Chinese political economic thinking, and some of its adaptations to the Chinese context.
