Art Goldsmith
Initial Publication Date: February 23, 2009
Department of Economics
Huntley Hall
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, VA 24450
Phone: 540.458.8970
Fax: 540.458.8639
Background Information
Art Goldsmith is the Jackson T. Stephens Professor of Economics at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois in 1979.
Art was the inaugural winner of the Hiter Harris Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching from the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, and was awarded the Demerest Award for excellence in teaching at the University of Illinois while in graduate school. He is a frequent presenter at conferences and universities on his research. His research combines insights from economics, psychology, sociology, and history to explore questions regarding wages, employment, unemployment, psychological well-being, access to health-care, and educational accumulation. He has published articles in a number of the professions leading journals including: the Journal of Economic Literature, the Journal of Economic Perspectives, the Journal of Human Resources, Economic Inquiry, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, the Southern Economic Journal, the Journal of Economic Psychology, the Journal of Socio-Economics, the Journal of Economic Education, Research in Labor Economics, the Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, and the Eastern Economic Journal. Grants from the National Science Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have supported his work in recent years. Professor Goldsmith is currently Vice President of the Southern Economics Association and serves on the Editorial Board of both the Journal of Economic Psychology and the Journal of Socio-Economics.
Interdisciplinary Education
Professor Goldsmith engages students in an examination of questions of interest to economists by drawing them into a conversation that accounts for insights from a host of disciplines while using formal economic models as the fundamental framework. By expanding economic inquiry in this way he believes that students attain a liberal education and develop a richer understanding of the challenges policy makers face. He has led a number of interdisciplinary courses including; The Economics of Social Issues, Socio-Economic Themes in Literature and Film, and The Economics of Race and Ethnicity.