ABSTRACT
Vernon Smith is the field’s prominent practitioner who has most contributed to the establishment of experimental economics. He has in fact won the Bank of Sweden Nobel Memorial Prize for having done so. This chapter presents a historical account of the experimental field of economics. It examines the path that Vernon Smith traced in his attempt to win the profession’s recognition for the relevance of the experimental method, as well as the overall context that favoured it. Smith’s trajectory is particularly illustrative in showing the difficulties scientists face when exploring new areas of research. Their establishment involves a long process of knowledge production until the significance of the results stabilizes and arguments can finally be presented to justify them. This is not to say that Smith was and has been a lone explorer. Smith’s journey was certainly not a solitary one. As will become apparent from the historical account, Smith’s contribution was as informed by the work of those who preceded him as by the work of those who collaborated with him, and perhaps most importantly, by the resistance of those who created obstacles on his way to establishing the experimental field in economics.
