David Glenn at the Chronicle of Higher Education adds
an interesting twist to the news that Vernon Smith is leaving
GMU for Chapman University:
John H. Kagel, a prominent experimental economist at Ohio State University
who has never worked closely with Mr. Smith, said in an interview that he
was startled by the news. "I was just at some meetings with him in Rome,"
he said, "and there was no hint of this."
Mr. Kagel said that he believed it would be a challenge to maintain a research
program at a non-Ph.D.-granting institution. "The lifeblood of these
research groups is often the graduate students," he said, "and that’s
the piece that seems to be missing here."
Is it possible for experimental economists to do first-rate work without grad
students? I guess we’ll find out.