国民经济理论与源自重工业理论的“文化保护”概念相关联。国民经济理论的倡导者认为，一个国家的经济增长必须既为其带来政治力量，也为其带来经济力量。他们认为，任何国家的增长都会经历三个阶段：畜牧/农业阶段、农业/工业阶段，然后是农业/工业/贸易阶段。一个国家如果没有获得海军、殖民地以及掌握各种技能的人口，就不可能获得真正的权力。此外，生产力与经济增长必须相互协调，这被视为政治权力的一个根本条件。他们还认为，尽管国际经济联系可以从自由竞争中受益，但这取决于所有参与竞争的国家都在发展自身实力方面达到完善；而为了促进这种发展，工业必须得到保护。至于农业，则不应享受任何保护，允许其不受限制、不附条件地出口各类农产品，其价格则根据自由市场确定。因此，国民经济理论本质上是以工业为导向的。它指出，志在强大的国家应当急于从农业阶段过渡到工业，因为在农业国家中，大量的生产力，即劳动力，以及相当数量的自然资源，即原材料，都会处于闲置和未被开发的状态。因此，为了投资于劳动力和自然资源，应当在发展农业的同时启动工业计划。一个仅以农业为基础建立经济的国家，将不具备农业/工业型国家所拥有的经济能力和生活水平。 国民经济理论要求国家在农业之外还必须发展工业,才能在经济上自立。因此,国民经济的概念实际上对工业适用保护主义理论,仅对工业进出口施加相应的限制和关税;与此同时,对农业则适用自由贸易理论,使其不受任何贸易限制。

The theory of national economy is linked to the concept of “cultural protection” derived from the theory of heavy industry. The champions of the theory of national economy deem that the economic growth of a nation must aim at providing her with political power as well as economic power. They deem that the growth of any country would undergo three stages: The pastoral/agricultural stage, the agricultural/industrial stage, then the agricultural/industrial trading stage. A country would not achieve real power unless she acquired a navy, colonies and populations with various skills. Furthermore it would be essential for the productive forces and economic growth to be in harmony, and this would serve as a fundamental condition of political power. They also deem that although international economic ties would benefit from free competition, this would depend on all competing countries reaching perfection in developing their powers; and in order to stimulate this development, industry must be protected. As for agriculture, it would not enjoy any protection and it would be permitted to export all kinds of produce without restriction or conditions, and their prices would be set according to the free market. Therefore, the theory of national economy would be in essence industry orientated. It states that the nations who aim towards being powerful should be eager to pass the agricultural stage to industry, because in the agricultural country, a large size of the productive forces i.e. the workforce, as well as a considerable size of the natural resources i.e. the raw materials, would remain unemployed and unexploited. Therefore, in order to invest in the workforce and the natural resources, an industrial programme should be initiated alongside agriculture. A country who establishes her economy solely based on agriculture would not possess the economic capability and the standard of living which an agricultural/industrial based country would have. The theory of national economy necessitates the presence of industry alongside agriculture in order for the country to be able to stand on its own feet economically. Therefore, the concept of national economy in fact applies protectionist theory on industry, thus imposing the appropriate restrictions and tariffs exclusively on industrial imports and exports, whilst at the same time, it applies free trade theory on agriculture making it free of any trade restrictions.