Vernon L. Smith Books

Articulates Adam Smith's model of human sociality, illustrated in experimental economic games that relate easily to business and everyday life. Shows how to re-humanize the study of economics in the twenty-first century by integrating Adam Smith's two great books into contemporary empirical analysis.

Alfred Marshall, the founder of modern economics, once described economics as 'the study of mankind in the ordinary business of earning a living'. In Economics for the Curious, 12 Nobel Laureates show that 'the ordinary business of earning a living' covers a wide range of activities, as they take readers on an engaging tour of some of the everyday issues that can be explored using basic economic principles. Written in the plainest possible language, Nobel Laureates including Paul Krugman, Eric Maskin, Finn E. Kydland and Vernon Smith confront some of the key issues challenging society today – challenges that claim attention in any phase of the business cycle. The range of topics includes how economic tools can be used to rebuild nations in the aftermath of a war; financing retirement as longevity increases; the sustainable use of natural resources and what governments should really be doing to boost the economy. Economics for the Curious is an accessible but informative display of the kinds of questions economics can illuminate. It will appeal to anyone who has an interest in economics and the world around them, and we hope it will encourage further interest and study in the topic from readers everywhere.

Vernon Smith looks at the famous Western National brand in the era of the popular, iconic VRT Bristol bus.

Discovery enters a child's homeland of hardship transformed by promise, revealing a richly inspiring world of achievement. Vernon Smith, born in Wichita before the Great Depression, witnessed entrepreneurs defy economic despair, transforming Kansas wheat fields into thriving oil and aviation industries. Unemployment forced his family into temporary farm life, where he began school in a rural one-room house. This farm experience became a crucible of learning that transcended its limitations. With blue-collar roots in the railroad and petroleum sectors, Smith overcame a lackluster high school record to graduate from Caltech. He then shifted from science to economics at the University of Kansas and Harvard, guided by an instinctive sense of direction. As a young professor at Purdue, he resisted the pressures of the economics profession to conform to its restrictive norms. Unbeknownst to him, Smith would play a pivotal role in transforming economics into an experimental science, challenging the conservative view that it was a non-experimental discipline. His contributions culminated in a Nobel Prize in economics in 2002. However, this memoir emphasizes not just his intellectual journey but also his personal voyage, exploring the depths of human experience through various activities. Ultimately, it reveals how understanding "how things work" encompasses both spiritual and scientific values, emerging from unseen depths beyond immedi