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The absolute nature of the First World War transformed the study of war. An interest in the theory of war was reflected in the major collection on Makers of Modern Strategy put together by Edward Meade Earle, almost as part of the war effort, but which served as a standard text for four decades until superseded by a new collection under the same name. Religious roots, according to Max Weber, anchored a spirit of capitalism, namely the doctrines of the ascetic Protestant sects and churches, particularly the pastoral exhortations of Calvinism. To Weber, the medieval monk's other-worldly asceticism became, with Calvinism, transformed into an 'inner-worldly asceticism'. The historical oddity of welfare economics remains that it has survived as an elaborate framework in itself, and as the foundation of practical techniques such as cost-benefit analysis, despite severe and arguably fatal criticism in the 19 50s - notably in the work of de Graaf.