GMU Loses a Nobel

This is huge! Nobel Prize winner Vernon Smith and most of GMU's experimental economics faculty are leaving GMU. I just got this e-mail from our department a couple hours ago:

All ICES faculty except Professors Houser and McCabe will be leaving GMU for Chapman University in Orange, California. The only unsettled question at this writing is whether they will leave next month or next year.

This is sad news indeed and a major blow to both our econ department and to GMU.

I hope this doesn't adversely affect Ali, Jason, Carrie, and my other friends at ICES (GMU's experimental economics laboratory).

P.S. -- A reader asks:

...could you please explain exactly what "experimental economics" is?

Here's Wikipedia's definition:

Experimental economics is the use of experimental methods to evaluate theoretical predictions of economic behaviour. It uses controlled, scientifically designed experiments to test economic theories under laboratory conditions. Typical empirical research is limited by the fact that only a subset of the set of all possible influences affect (or can be observed to be affecting) economic decision making.

Also, see GMU's experimental economics FAQ.