Quiz: The National System of Political Economy

15 questions drawn at random. Score 80% for a silver medal.

1. To what does List compare England’s position when gold leaves the country? A miser hoarding coin in a strongbox A colony supported in hard times by its mother country A rich banker drawing on business connections at will A poor man who is drawn upon by the rich
2. Why, in List’s account, did Poland fail to develop a manufacturing power? Its aristocracy preferred to export grain produced by serfs and import cheap foreign manufactures It had no navigable rivers or coast, and so could neither obtain raw materials nor reach markets Its kings imposed prohibitive tariffs on all imports, stifling the trade that feeds industry Its climate was too harsh and its soil too poor to support a large manufacturing population
3. What future did List predict for Britain once the United States surpassed it? Britain would have to lead a European coalition against America Britain would be absorbed into the American Union Britain would retreat into agriculture, like Holland Britain would ally with Russia to divide Asia
4. In his 1786 argument for the Eden Treaty, how did Pitt (as List reports) say England and France should behave towards each other? Like a city and its surrounding countryside Like two rival fleets competing for the carrying trade Like a mother country and its colonies Like two great merchants in different branches of trade
5. What does List call the Eden Treaty of 1786? The beginning of the Continental blockade A second edition of the Methuen Treaty A treaty that ruined the English wine trade The foundation of Colbert’s system
6. What, according to List, really harmed Venice? Introducing protection at all, which stifled her early trade The free-trade policy she followed in her early centuries The loss of her maritime code to Pisa Keeping protection after the reasons for it had passed
7. What does List say is the real cause of productivity in Smith’s pin factory? Not the division of tasks but the low wages paid to the women and children employed Not merely the division of tasks but the use of steam-driven machinery at each stage Not merely the division of tasks but the union or co-operation of the workers’ powers Not the division of tasks but the large foreign market open to English-made pins
8. What does List call the most serious blow to Dutch commerce? The fall of Antwerp The Continental blockade The Methuen Treaty of 1703 The loss of Brazil
9. How does List answer Smith’s argument that what is prudent for a family cannot be folly for a kingdom? He says private families should then also impose tariffs on one another He accepts it for all nations at every stage He argues that a kingdom is merely the sum of its families What is folly for a family may be wisdom for a nation
10. According to List, how does the value of land of equal natural fertility in England compare with that in Poland? It is twice as high in England It is higher in Poland, where rent takes a larger share of the produce It is about the same, since fertility is equal It is ten to twenty times higher in England
11. What protective duty did List propose for German cotton and linen spinning? A permanent duty of 60 per cent No duty, but subsidies for spinning mills About 25 per cent for some years, later lowered to 15–20 per cent A prohibition of English yarn until Germany could export its own yarn
12. According to List, which transitions are best achieved by free commerce, and which need the power of the state? Free trade carries a nation to the beginnings of manufacture; developed industry, a marine and large foreign trade need the state State intervention is needed at every stage, from barbarism through pasturage and agriculture to manufacture Neither free trade nor protection matters; nations pass between the stages by the growth of population alone Free trade suits only advanced nations; the passage from barbarism to agriculture needs the state
13. How did Villèle reportedly answer Canning’s invitation to follow England’s freer trade? France could not lower duties while the Corn Laws remained France would open its market only once its manufactures no longer needed protection France’s protective system was required by the Holy Alliance France would accept free trade in exchange for British wine duties being abolished
14. How did England treat Indian cotton and silk fabrics, according to List? It admitted them freely to keep wages low It bought them only for re-export to America It banned them at home but supplied them cheaply to the Continent It taxed them only lightly, to protect the Indian weavers’ livelihood
15. According to List, what is the historical relation between political and commercial union? The two have always been established at the same moment by treaty Political union has always come first, and commercial union has followed History offers no examples of either kind of union Commercial union has always come first, and has gradually produced political union

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