By Elise Ormonde, ACRE Research & Program Coordinator
UCA students participating in the ACRE Fall 2023 Economics Reading group had the exciting opportunity to travel to Dallas, Texas for a weekend summit hosted by the Southern Methodist University (SMU). This event was a collaboration between UCA, SMU, and Western Michigan University, featuring student reading discussions and a presentation by Dr. Bart J. Wilson on his upcoming book, Meaningful Economics.
The reading group program has provided students with the chance to investigate economics beyond the classroom and how it relates to this session’s theme: Humanomics: Economic Freedom & the Not-So-Dismal Science. Humanomics aims to incorporate human conduct into traditional economic theory and to answer questions such as: What are markets and do free markets promote the development of moral behavior? Are economists’ simplifying assumptions about human behavior and decision-making causing them to miss key components of the world? Students were already familiar with some of Dr. Wilson’s past work surrounding humanomics due to the inclusion of his and Vernon L. Smith’s book, Humanomics: Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations for the Twenty-First Century, in this fall’s curriculum. Consequently, Wilson’s presentation on “Meaningful Economics” sparked relevant student conversation and many insightful questions.
The ACRE Economics Reading group will continue in the spring and focus on morality in markets.