June 22, 2001

7 Economists Leave U. of Arizona for George Mason U.; Oakland U. Faculty Blasts President for Firing Popular Provost

By JENNIFER JACOBSON and DAN CURRY

MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON: You don't need to be John Maynard Keynes to understand why an internationally prominent economist and six of his colleagues are leaving the University of Arizona for George Mason University, in a major departmental raid: "They made us an offer we couldn't refuse," says Vernon L. Smith, who's moving his Economic Science Laboratory to the Virginia institution.

Mr. Smith, whose name has been floated as a potential Nobel winner, joined the Arizona faculty in