» About ESI

Vernon Smith Nobel Prize AcceptanceThe genesis of the Economic Science Institute was an experiment professor Vernon L. Smith conducted in an introductory economics class in 1956. He had an innovative vision of a better method for researching and teaching economics. The experiment led to the field of Experimental Economics, and Smith’s groundbreaking work earned him a share of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economic Science. Using that recognition as a springboard, in 2008 Chapman’s Argyros School of Business and Economics announced the Economic Science Institute, founded by Smith and fellow professors John Dickhaut, David Porter, Stephen Rassenti and Bart Wilson.