Erik W. Matson

Jan 13, 2025 | acton.org | Erik W. Matson

In a popular 17th century work called Of the Principles and Duties of Natural Religion, the Anglican John Wilkins defended the proposition that “Religion is the Cause of Riches.” The true Christian faith, he argued, prepares one for success because its ethical principles convey “all the lawful Arts of Gain and good Husbandry.” These include a “heedfulness to improve all fitting Opportunities of providing for our selves and Families, being provident in our Expences, keeping within the Bounds...

Jan 13, 2025 | fee.org | Daniel Klein |Erik W. Matson

This article by Daniel Klein, a member of the FEE faculty network, and Erik Matson originally appeared on CapX. The debate about when “liberal” first acquired a political meaning has been resolved. The answer is the 1770s, when the adjective “liberal” became the name of the policy orientation against government restriction, government monopoly, and protectionism, and in favor of individual liberty, premised by a stable, functional system of governmental authority.

Aug 5, 2024 | econlib.org | Erik W. Matson |Adam Smith |Jeremy Bentham

In 1776, the British MP Soame Jenyns wrote a work titled A View of the Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion. The bulk of the work is an apologetic for Christian orthodoxy against the claims of skeptical deism, but it has a notable political dimension.

Jun 9, 2024 | onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Erik W. Matson

The sage knows you better than you know yourself, for you are the victim of your passions, a slave living a heteronomous life, purblind, unable to understand your true goals. You want to be a human being. It is the aim of the state to satisfy your wish. ‘Compulsion is justified by education for future insight.’ Isaiah Berlin (1969, p. 150) Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

Mar 27, 2024 | capx.co | Erik W. Matson

Behavioural science has caused a revolution in public policy over the past two decades. In 2017, the OECD reported that behavioural insights were applied to policy issues over 100 times across 60 public bodies in 23 countries. Many countries around the world, including the UK and the United States, now have entire units devoted to behavioural science. This behavioural turn has been sharply felt in public health policy and the revival of nanny statism.