Erik W. Matson is a senior fellow at The Gibbons Institute. He earned his PhD in economics from George Mason University, where he studied the history and philosophy of economics. His research focuses on ethical and theological dimensions of economic thought, with a special interest in eighteenth century Britain. His work has published extensively in academic journals including History of Political Economy, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Hume Studies, Journal of Scottish Philosophy, and History of European Ideas. He is recently the coauthor with Jordan Ballor of A History of Christian Political Economy: From the Patristics to the Present and the co-editor of a companion volume, Sources in Christian Political Economy, both with B&H Academic. He was awarded the Michael Novak Award for his research by the Acton Institute in 2022.

In addition to his position at the Gibbons Institute, Dr. Matson is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center and the co-director, along with Professor Daniel Klein, of the Adam Smith Program at George Mason University. He lives with his wife, Stephanie, and their four children in Clifton, VA.