The essence of Friedrich List’s concepts applied on today’s economic science : Part II: Friedrich List’s view on the labor theory of value and the monetary theory

Part II of the series of essays on Friedrich List focuses on the fundamental areas of research within economics, the labor theory of value and the monetary theory. First, List’s views on the significance of the production factor labor, the labor theory of value and the aggregation of productive forces are described and applied in today’s context. Likewise, List’s concepts of the monetary theory, including discussions on coins and banknotes, credit institutions as well as the relevance of trade balance for the national prosperity are analyzed. Altogether, we conclude that List provided credible theoretical concepts, which were not only affirmed by follow-on research, but also indicate how List could distant himself from Adam Smith and his followers by providing independent findings. This is particularly intriguing when considering that empirical methods and tool hardly existed in the early stage of industrialization. Further, when comparing List’s explanations with other German-speaking research in economics of the first half of the 19th century, it becomes apparent that List made a scientific breakthrough in the context of content and language. © 2018, List-Gesellschaft e.V.