He studied at the Universities of Pisa, where his teacher was Toniolo, and Berlin, and in 1890 was appointed professor at the University of Breslau, later moving to Berlin.
He began his scientific activity in 1888 with an economic-social study of the Roman countryside (*Die römische Campagna*), followed by a history of Italy’s commercial policy since 1861 (*Die Handelspolitik Italiens seit der Einigung des Königreichs*, in *Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik*, Leipzig, 49 [1894], pp. 77-166). The reality of socio-economic conditions and, in particular, the rise of socialism subsequently stimulated his scholarly interest and curiosity, yielding a large number of works on capitalism, socialism, and specific aspects of economic life, including: *Der moderne Kapitalismus* (1902); *Die Juden und das Wirtschaftsleben* (1911); *Der Bourgeois* (1913); *Der proletarische Sozialismus* (1924); *Deutschland Sozialismus* (1934). Sombart’s work constitutes a bridge between 19th-century and 20th-century social science.