Erik W. Matson

Erik W. Matson is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, deputy director of the Adam Smith Program at George Mason University, and a lecturer in political economy at The Catholic University of America.

Posts by Erik W. Matson

June 25, 2025

The Enduring Value of Weber’s Protestant Ethic

Max Weber published two essays in 1904 and 1905 in the Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik that became one of the most famous books in 20th-century social science: Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismusor The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (hereafter referenced as PE). Continue Reading...