A comparative analysis of the relationship between Friedrich List and French and Italian culture

Stefano Spalletti

pp. 99-114

in: Riccardo Soliani (ed), Economic thought and institutional change in France and Italy, 1789–1914, Berlin, Springer, 2017

Abstract

Friedrich List combines different political inspirations, often due to the French and Italian environments. To know the first, this chapter reconstructs the influence List receives during his stays in Paris. These experiences are important in writing his works and lead to identifying a "think tank" from which List takes and gives. Namely, all List's work takes into account the influence of Jean-Baptiste Say; albeit always criticized, an entire chapter of the Nationale System is devoted to this author. The other French economists that influence his work are Chaptal, Dupin and Ferrier. Then, after giving space to List's claims on the Italian economic history, the chapter focuses on the author's attitude to being received in Italy; a country similar to Germany, from the perspective of that nation's political and economic fragmentation. In this case, List's influence appears tempered by various doctrinal and practical elements due to the germanesimo economico.