German thinking on state-led industrial development became conventional wisdom among the Meiji leaders. The writings of the German economist Friedrich List were particularly influential; List had been a great admirer of the regime of protective tariffs and explicit subsidies to industry implemented in the young United States by such figures as Alexander Hamilton and Henry Clay; in his National System of Political Economy he advocated comparable policies for his own country. This book was translated into Japanese, complete with an official introduction from the governor of the newly established
...more
