The Smith Institute was established to challenge the perceived tension between economics 和 the humanities 和 to blur the lines between faculty research 和 undergraduate teaching. 它的双重使命是:
- reintegrate the study of the humanities 和 economics in the spirit of Adam Smith, author of 《道德情操论 和 An Inquiry into the Nature 和 Causes of the Wealth of Nations,
- recombine research 和 undergraduate education as a discovery process in the spirit of Vernon Smith, progenitor of experimental economics.
The faculty of the Smith Institute are creating new connections between the Argyros School of Business 和 Economics, 经济科学研究所, Institute for the Study of Economics, Religion 和 Society, Schmid College of Science 和 Technology，和 Wilkinson College of 艺术, Humanities, Social Sciences.
The Smith Institute for Political Economy 和 Philosophy welcome the Class of 2026!
请注意，教授. Katharine Gillespie's Aims of Education speech at 澳门威尼斯人app下载的2022年毕业典礼.
John Templeton Foundation Grant Project
The Smith Institute has been awarded a grant from the John Templeton Foundation for the project "Markets in their Moral 和 Social Context” (2022-2025).
项目摘要:
Markets rely on selfishness, or so we’re told. Economics models people as self-interested utility maximizers. Some argue commercial society oppresses women. Philosophers often see economic liberties 和 property rights as antagonistic or individualistic. Market society is seen as the realm of cold, calculating individuals. We propose to replace this story with a richer, more accurate one.
Our main question is to what extent markets are pro- or anti-social. Using diverse disciplinary 和 ideological approaches from economics, 文学, 和哲学, we ask to what extent economic models organized around maximizing agents reflect reality; whether feminist conceptions of virtue are consistent with commerce; 和 whether justifications of economic rights reflect selfish or atomistic models of the person.
The project asks about the cultural, ethical, social apparatus surrounding markets. A topic this complex cannot be adequately studied using a single disciplinary approach or ideology. What’s needed is a conversation using different methodologies 和 viewpoints. 我们的研究, 事件, teaching will bring together people from different disciplines 和 ideological backgrounds to openly investigate these questions. Our approach reintegrates the social sciences 和 humanities in the tradition of Adam Smith 和 others, yielding an analysis of commercial society that's descriptively more accurate 和 morally rich.
Our outputs will be: (I) high-level research, including faculty-student collaborations; (II) PPE-workshops for graduate students; (III) teaching-research seminars for advanced undergraduates; (IV) faculty symposia; 和 (V) collaborations with post-docs 和 visiting scholars. The project will produce constructive engagement with a major concern about markets: the extent to which markets are pro or anti-social in nature.