From Adam Smith's defence of the power of self-interest to modern liberal defences of free trade, we typically associate the intellectual basis of capitalism and markets with Anglo-American thinkers. In doing so we neglect a powerful alternative tradition of German origin: teutocapitalism.

In this brilliant work of intellectual reconstruction, Philipp Robinson Rössner looks at some of the classic questions of economic theory – how do countries grow rich? why do some nations develop whilst others remain poor? how do markets work? – through this unfamiliar – but powerful – lens. He shows how the 'teutocapitalists', with their distinctive emphasis on the morally, culturally and historically embedded nature of economic institutions, the importance of broad measures of public happiness, and a more production-focussed and pragmatic approach to economic statecraft, formulated an enduringly valuable alternative to British, American and French perspectives on economics.

Rössner demonstrates how this tradition and its ideas represent a rich historical tool for deepening our contemporary economic understanding. No-one interested in economic history or modern debates about economic policy can afford to miss this highly original new book.

Philipp Robinson Rössner is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Manchester, UK. The first historian ever elected into the 'Young Academy' of the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig (Saxon Academy of Sciences), he teaches mostly on Victorian Britain but has published widely on early modern Germany as well as Scottish economic history, and the intellectual history of capitalism in the longue durée.