In this book, renowned Norwegian economist Erik Reinert shows that rich countries have become rich through a combination of government intervention, protectionism, and strategic investment, not through free trade. According to the author, this policy has been the key to successful economic development, from Renaissance Italy to today's Southeast Asian countries. Showing that modern economists ignore this approach while insisting on the importance of free trade, Reinert explains this by the long-standing split in economic science between the continental European tradition, focused on comprehensive government policy, on the one hand, and the Anglo-American tradition, focused on free trade, on the other. Written in accessible language, the book will be of interest not only to specialists in economic history and theory, but also to a wide range of readers.