Vernon L. Smith, Nobel Prize winner in Economics, 2002, is currently Professor of Economics and Law at George Mason University , a research scholar in the Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science, and a Fellow of the Mercatus Center in Arlington , VA. He holds a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Cal Tech and a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard and has authored or co-authored over 200 articles and books on capital theory, finance, natural resource economics, and experimental economics. Cambridge University Press published his "Papers in Experimental Economics" in 1991 and "Bargaining and Market Behavior," in 2000.

He serves on the board of editors of numerous academic journals including the American Economic Review and is past president of the Public Choice Society, the Economic Science Association, the Western Economic Association, and The Association of Private Enterprise Education.

Among his awards are an honorary Doctorate from Purdue University and being named a Fellow of the Econometric Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a distinguished fellow of the American Economic Association and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1995, he received the Adam Smith Award from The Association of Private Enterprise Education.