List, George Friedrich (1789–1846)

German-born US economist. He was imprisoned in Germany and charged with sedition in 1824 and fled to the USA in 1825. A disciple of Adam Smith, his attitude to free trade was modified by his experiences of the under-developed US economy. He returned to Germany as a US consul.

He was born in Reutlingen, Germany. His US experience was incorporated in Outlines of American Political Economy. On his return to Germany, as consul at, successively, Baden, Leipzig, and Stuttgart, he reformulated his theories. His work is embodied in Das Nazionale System der politische Okonomie (1841). In it, he emphasized the importance of the nation state and developed a theory of national economic development.

List strongly advocated the extension of the German railway system, and the creation of the Zollverein was largely due to his ideas.