As Seen in
 THE LOS ANGELES DAILY JOURNAL
(July 27, 2007)

Nobel-winning economist to join Chapman School of Law
By Don J. DeBenedictis
Daily Journal Staff Writer

SANTA ANA—A Nobel Prize-winning economist will join the Chapman University School of Law faculty in January, the school announced Thursday.

Vernon L. Smith is receiving a joint appointment to Chapman's law school and school of business and economics. Coming with him will be three colleagues from George Mason University in Virginia. One of those, Bart Wilson, also will join the law school.

Chapman's law dean, John C. Eastman, said he thinks Smith may be the only Nobel laureate on a law faculty in California. Steven Bank, a vice dean and law and economics professor at UCLA, concurred.

"It's an important move for Chapman," Eastman said about Smith's joining the faculty.

It elevates the status of the school and shows its commitment to top-tier, interdisciplinary study, he said.

Smith, 80, won the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science in 2002 for his work putting science into the so-called "dismal science" by creating experimental economics. 

The Nobel committee said it gave him the memorial prize "for having established laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms."

In its story on the award, the Washington Post said Smith's work appeals to conservatives because it "has tended to support the notion that markets, while not perfect, are better at allocating resources and solving problems than various forms of government regulation."

Eastman, a conservative constitutional scholar, acknowledged that the law-and-economics field has a reputation as conservative.

But he said researchers in the field "just follow where the information leads, ... which proves conservatives are right."

The only other Nobel laureate law professor observers could think of is Ronald H. Coase, a 90-year-old emeritus professor at the University of Chicago who is considered one of the founders of the law-and-economics field.

Bank said Smith's move to Chapman "is a big coup for them," although more for the economics department than the law school. It boosts the Orange school's visibility and commitment to interdisciplinary studies.

Smith put his prize money into his own institute, the International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics, which he will move to Orange.

Chapman University also will establish an Economic Science Institute, where Smith and his colleagues will work. They will report to university Chancellor Daniele Struppa, formerly a dean at George Mason.

In a press release, Smith said he is excited about coming to Chapman.

"I look forward to the opportunities that this new [institute] will offer to expand our research into areas that have impact upon the greater good of society," he said.

Smith's research ranges broadly, involving trade, market regulations, antitrust and taxes.

Eastman said the law school is committed to faculty that represent the broad spectrum of political thought. He pointed to the recent appointment of a former clerk to liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justices William J. Brennan Jr. and David H. Souter.

That professor is Steven G. Krone, former president of Village Roadshow Pictures Entertainment, the independent production company behind "The Matrix" and 50 other movies. Krone teaches in Chapman's entertainment law program.

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