When we think about interventionist, late-industrializing states, we tend to think of the states of East Asia. Yet, French experiments from the Place des Vosges to the Crédit Mobilier Bank notwithstanding, the original developmental state was Germany. Playing catch-up to the British in the latter half of the nineteenth century forced Germany (it came into being in 1871) to act as the broker, and in many cases as the insurance agent, among industrial, commercial, and agricultural interests.

Mark Blyth, Austerity, loc. 358