Watson, Matthew (2012) Friedrich List's Adam Smith historiography and the contested origins of development theory. Third World Quarterly, Volume 33 (Issue 3). pp. 459-474. doi:10.1080/01436597.2012.657482

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Abstract

Friedrich List's National System of Political Economy continues to be positively received in IPE, where it is treated as a seminal text in development theory. Only a handful of IPE scholars have questioned the specific history of economic ideas through which List asserted the distinctiveness of his own position. They do so by showing that he deliberately put words into the mouths of his classical political economy predecessors to provide himself with something to argue against. His alleged authority on development issues rests in particular on purposefully caricaturing the arguments of Adam Smith. I use this article to suggest a plausible reconstruction of the route to List's Smith, one which recognises the possible intermediary influence of the early Dugald Stewart, John Ramsay McCulloch, the Earl of Lauderdale and Georg Sartorius. By following this complex trail to List's rather eccentric Smith historiography, it becomes possible to break down one of the most important oppositions in IPE pedagogy: that between List's National System and Smith's Wealth of Nations. Moreover, it also becomes necessary to engage more circumspectly with List's history of economic ideas when searching for the origins of contemporary critically-minded development theory.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	List, Friedrich, 1789-1846 -- Criticism and interpretation, Smith, Adam, 1723-1790 -- Historiography, Economics -- Historiography, Economic development
Journal or Publication Title:	Third World Quarterly
Publisher:	Routledge
ISSN:	0143-6597
Official Date:	April 2012
Dates:	Date Event April 2012 Published
Date of first compliant deposit:	18 December 2015
Volume:	Volume 33
Number:	Issue 3
Page Range:	pp. 459-474
DOI:	10.1080/01436597.2012.657482
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access

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