Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

How We Think About Economics, Bart J. Wilson

ESI Publications

"From my casual observation, many economists were surprised at the content of Vernon's Nobel lecture on ecological and constructivist rationality in economics. Having been awarded the prize 'for having established laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms,' I think many expected him to catalogue the major findings of experimental economics in his prize lecture. David Porter has described Vernon as a live, interactive version of the Journal of Economic Literature. But Vernon Smith is no cataloguer. He is a synthesizer, and he synthesizes acutely aware that scientific inquiry is …