» About ESI

The 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.