On Tuesday, Sept. 27, Vernon L. Smith, Ph.D., sat down with the incoming College of Business Dean Scott Beasuler, who recently joined the university.
High-ranking university administrators joined the two individuals along with over 50 students from all walks of life at the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center.
“At my age, I’m just glad to be here at all still,” Smith said.
The 95-year-old doctor is considered the father of experimental economics and received a Nobel Prize in economics for his contributions in 2002.
In addition to his works on economics, his autobiography became the subject of discussion with many speakers and audience members at the event.
“With all due respect Dr. Smith, it is one of the oddest autobiographies I’ve ever read,” Dean Beasuler said. “At one point, it switches from a deep talk about economics to a burger recipe you swear by. Including other such recipes and antidotes littered throughout the book.”
In Smith’s early life he would receive his bachelor’s degree in electoral engineering at California Institute of Technology in 1949, a master’s in economics at the University of Kansas in 1952, and his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard in 1955.
“I’ve been very fortunate and have had great educational experiences that have drawn me deeper into the field,” Smith said. “ I like to try to do that with economics students today.
Like some college students today, Smith wouldn’t discover his passion for his later studies until several years into his higher education.
“I was a senior in college before I realized there was actually a field in economics,” Smith said. “Always had been interested in economics because of my family background.”
Smith is no exception regarding the influence of families in later life around careers and education, as the doctor credits his mother for his initial interest in economics.
“She was a socialist and had all these ideas about how to improve the economy and its ability to help everyone.” Smith said. “But then as I studied economics, I realized that those views were pretty naive and the importance of understanding why and how free economies are so productive.”
Throughout his 95 years of life and study, Smith has come up with one simple philosophy that has not changed through his years of higher education.
“The bottom line is really doing your best to get into an area where you like what you’ll do
and make it part of your life,” Smith said. “I haven’t had to make many sacrifices that were burdens because I’m paid for what I love to do.”
