Smith, Vernon L.

Smith, Vernon L.

▪ American economist
born January 1, 1927, Wichita, Kansas, U.S.

      American economist, corecipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2002 for his use of laboratory experiments in economic analysis, which laid the foundation for the field of experimental economics. He shared the award with Israeli-born psychologist Daniel Kahneman (Kahneman, Daniel).

      Smith studied electrical engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech; B.S., 1949), then switched to economics at the University of Kansas (M.A., 1951) and Harvard (Ph.D., 1955). Smith taught and did research at Purdue University (1955–67), Brown University (1967–68), the University of Massachusetts (1968–75), Caltech (1973–75), and the University of Arizona (1975–2001), where he was Regents' Professor of Economics from 1988. In 2001 he was named professor of economics and law at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Much of Smith's commercial work was related to the deregulation of energy in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. He served on the editorial boards of several publications and wrote extensively on subjects ranging from capital theory and finance to natural resource economics and experimental economics.

      Smith's early work was inspired by the classroom experiments of his teacher at Harvard, E.H. Chamberlain, who tested the neoclassical theory of perfect competition. Smith improved on the process of testing the fundamental economic theory that under perfect competition the market price of any product or service establishes an equilibrium between supply and demand at the level where the value assigned by a marginal buyer is equal to that of a marginal seller. The results of Smith's experiments, published in 1962, involved the random designation of the roles of buyers and sellers with different and uninformed valuations of a commodity, expressed as a lowest acceptable selling price and highest acceptable buying price. He was able to determine the theoretical equilibrium, or acceptable market price. Unexpectedly, the prices obtained in the laboratory were close to the theoretical values. Many of his experiments focused on the outcome of public auctions; he showed that the way in which the bidding was organized affected the selling price. Smith also devised “wind-tunnel tests,” where trials of new alternative market designs, such as those for a deregulated industry, could be tested.

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  • Vernon L. Smith — Vernon Smith Vernon Lomax Smith (* 1. Januar 1927 in Wichita, Kansas, USA) ist ein US amerikanischer Wirtschaftswissenschaftler. Er gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Vertreter der experimentellen Kapitalmarktforschung, ein Forschungszweig der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Vernon L. Smith — Vernon Lomax Smith Vernon L. Smith Naissance 1er janvier 1927 (1927 01 01) (84 ans) Wichita, Kansas (États Unis) Nationalité …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Vernon L Smith — Vernon L. Smith Vernon Lomax Smith (né à Wichita, Kansas, le 1er janvier 1927), est Professeur d économie du Droit à l université George Mason en Virginie, chargé de recherche à l Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science, et Fellow du… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Vernon Lomax Smith — Vernon L. Smith Vernon Lomax Smith (né à Wichita, Kansas, le 1er janvier 1927), est Professeur d économie du Droit à l université George Mason en Virginie, chargé de recherche à l Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science, et Fellow du… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Vernon Smith — Vernon L. Smith Vernon Lomax Smith (né à Wichita, Kansas, le 1er janvier 1927), est Professeur d économie du Droit à l université George Mason en Virginie, chargé de recherche à l Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science, et Fellow du… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Vernon Lomax Smith — Vernon Smith Vernon Lomax Smith (* 1. Januar 1927 in Wichita, Kansas, USA) ist ein US amerikanischer Wirtschaftswissenschaftler. Er gilt als der bedeutendste Vertreter der experimentellen Kapitalmarktforschung, ein Forschungszweig der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Vernon Smith — Vernon Lomax Smith (* 1. Januar 1927 in Wichita, Kansas, USA) ist ein US amerikanischer Wirtschaftswissenschaftler. Er gilt als der bedeutendste Vertreter der experimentellen Kapitalmarktforschung, ein Forschungszweig der experimentellen Ökonomie …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Vernon Smith — Vernon Smith. Vernon L. Smith es un economista de nacionalidad estadounidense nacido en 1927. En 2002, conjuntamente con Daniel Kahneman, le fue concedido el Premio Nobel de Economía por haber establecido experimentos de laboratorio como una… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Vernon L. Smith — Infobox Scientist name = Vernon L. Smith image size = 150px birth date = Birth date and age|1927|1|1|mf=y birth place = Wichita, Kansas, U.S. nationality = United States field = Economics work places = Chapman University 2007 George Mason… …   Wikipedia

  • Vernon Smith (football) — Infobox NCAA Athlete color = Red fontcolor = Black name = Vernon Smith caption = Catfish Smith photo from the College Football Hall of Fame college = Georgia conference = Southern sport = Football jersey = 33 position = E major = minor = nickname …   Wikipedia

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