Students, faculty, and staff will have the opportunity to learn about Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith's work on experimental economics and attend an etiquette instruction session with Candace Smith, a nationally-recognized business educator. Dr. Smith will also offer a faculty presentation: “If you’re not learning, you’re not teaching.”
Dr. Smith was awarded the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for establishing laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis. He pioneered experimental economics, particularly in studying alternative market mechanisms and validating market equilibrium theories through controlled, simulated trading. He has authored or coauthored more than 300 articles and books,
The following activities will take place on Thursday, April 2, 2026:
1:00-3:00 PM in Whitinger Business 144:
Dr. Vernon Smith and Candace Smith will present public talks followed by a reception with business etiquette tips
Vernon Smith: “Propriety, Property, and Freedom”
Candace Smith: “Etiquette, Property, and Propriety”
The talks will be followed by a reception (snacks and drinks) with business etiquette tips.
Please RSVP here: https://forms.gle/2adbPsbF2e9Bn9uA8
3:15 – 4:30 PM: Faculty Presentation in the Whitinger Business Hall of Fame Conference Room
Vernon Smith: “If you’re not learning, you’re not teaching”
To RSVP, please email missy.matthews@bsu.edu
5:00 – 6:15 PM in Arts & Journalism Building 175: Public Lecture: Vernon Smith: “Theory of Society”
Nobel laureate Vernon L. Smith offers a powerful lens for understanding how society works. Rather than being fully designed from the top down, many of the institutions we rely on, from markets to social norms, emerge spontaneously through human interaction. Drawing on insights from thinkers like Adam Smith and Friedrich Hayek, Smith’s framework highlights the limits of centralized planning and the surprising effectiveness of decentralized systems. This lecture explores how these two forces — deliberate design and emergent order — shape the world around us, and what that means for policy, institutions, and everyday life.
Presented by the Institute for the Study of Political Economy (ISPE). ISPE approaches the study of political economy as an analysis of governance. We examine what it means to have good public and private governance. We analyze which institutions and institutional rules are likely to lead to good governance, and how governance – good and bad — impacts outcomes. We are particularly interested in wealth and income, economic growth, health, freedom and liberty, and quality of life in the American Midwest. In order to positively impact outcomes, we communicate the lessons learned from rigorous academic analysis to students, citizens at large, private organization leadership, and elected and appointed officials.