Biography

Dr. William Smith is a Professor Economics at the Fogelman College of Business & Economics at the University of Memphis. He earned a BA in International Affairs from the American College (now University) in Paris in 1979, an MA in Economics from the University of Miami in 1981, and a PhD in Economics from the University of Virginia in 1987, specializing in international and financial economics. He taught at Virginia Tech for several years, and briefly visited at the University of Virginia and Penn State before coming to the University of Memphis in 1993. He is currently Chair of the Economics Department.

Dr. Smith’s research has focused upon economic growth, risk & uncertainty, and recently asset-pricing.  He has taught pretty much everything, but recently has been teaching International Monetary Theory & Policy (ECON 4351) and Macroeconomic Theory (ECON 3320).

Education

• B.A., International Affairs, American College in Paris - 1979
• M.A., Economics, University of Miami - 1980
• Ph.D., Economics, University of Virginia - 1987

Areas of Teaching

Macroeconomics, International Macroeconomics

Research

Econmic Growth, Risk & Uncertainty 

Asset Pricing

Publications

"Do Environmental, Social and Governance Practices affect Portfolio Returns? Evidence from the US Stock Market from 2002 to 2020,” with Johannes Dreyer, Mateus Moreira, and Vivek Sharma, forthcoming, Review of Accounting & Finance (2022).

“Warm-glow Investment and the Underperformance of Green Stocks,” with Johannes Dreyer and Vivek Sharma, International Review of Economics & Finance 83 (2023): 546-570.

“The Optimal Hedging Ratio: A Closed-form Solution, a Conjecture, and a Challenge,” forthcoming, Economics Bulletin (2022).

“Warm-glow Preference: A Natural Catalyst for the Green Transition,” with Johannes Dreyer, forthcoming in Measuring Sustainability and CSR: Reporting to Decision Making, edited by S. Kacanski, J. Dreyer, and K. Sund, Ethical Economy: A Springer Book Series (2022).

“Saving-based Asset-pricing and Leisure,” with Johannes Dreyer, Annals of Economics & Finance, 21.2 (2020): 507-526.

“Changes in Risk and Strategic Interaction,” with Diego Nocetti, Journal of Mathematical Economics, 56 (2015): 37 – 46.

“The Discriminating Beta: Prices and Capacity with Correlated Demands,” with Catherine Eckel, Southern Economic Journal, 81 (2014): 56-67.

“The Effects of Wage Volatility on Growth,” with Michael Jetter and Olexander Nikolsko-Rzhevskyy Journal of Macroeconomics, 37 (2013): 93-109.

“Saving-Based Asset Pricing,” with Johannes Dyer and Johannes Schneider, Journal of Banking &  Finance 37 (2013), 3704-3715.

“A New Look at the Determinants of the Ecological Discount Rate: Disentangling Social Preferences,” with Luciana Echazu and Diego Nocetti, B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Advances (2012).

“Price Uncertainty, Saving, and Welfare,” with Diego Nocetti, Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control 35 (2011): 1139-1149.

“Precautionary Saving and Endogenous Labor Supply with and without Expected Utility,” with Diego Nocetti, Journal of Money, Credit & Banking 43 (2011): 1475-1504.

“Uncertainty, the Demand for Health Care, and Precautionary Savings,” with Diego Nocetti, B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy 10 (2010).

“Time Diversification: Definitions and Some Closed-form Solutions,” with Kee Chung and Tao Wu, Journal of Banking & Finance 33 (2009): 1101-1111.

“The Spirit of Capitalism, Precautionary Savings, and Consumption,” with Yulei Luo and Heng-fu Zou,” Journal of Money, Credit, & Banking 41 (2009): 543-554.

“The Monetary Transmission Mechanism of a Small Open Economy with Sweeping Financial Reforms: The Case of Korea,” with Young Seob Son and C.S. Pyun, Multinational Business Review 17.4 (2009): 1 – 20.

“The Spirit of Capitalism and Excess Smoothness,” with Yulei Luo and Heng-fu Zou, Annals of Economics & Finance 10 (2008): 281-301.

“Inspecting the Mechanism Exactly: A Closed-form Solution to a Stochastic Growth Model,” BE Contributions to Macroeconomics (August 2007), http://www.bepress.com/bejm/contributions/vol17/iss1/art30.

“Consumption and Risk with Hyperbolic Discounting,” with Heng-Fu Zou and Liutang Gong, Economics Letters 96 (2007): 153-160.

“Asset Pricing with Multiplicative Habits and Power-expo Preferences,” with Richard Zhang, Economics Letters March (2007): 319-325.

“Hyperbolic Discounting and Asset-Pricing,” with Heng-Fu Zou and Liutang Gong, Annals of Economics & Finance 8 (2007): 397-414

“Why Do Pooled Forecasts Do Better Than Individual Forecasts? An Alternative Explanation,” with Diego Nocetti, Economics Bulletin, Vol. 4, No. 36 (2006), posted on October 25, 2006 at http://economicsbulletin.vanderbilt.edu.

“Equilibrium Consumption and Precautionary Savings in a Stochastically Growing Economy,” with Steve Turnovsky, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 30 (2006): 243-278.

“A Closed Form Solution to the Ramsey Model,” BE Contributions to Macroeconomics (January 2006) http://www.bepress.com/bejm/contributions/vol16/iss1/art3/

“Fertility, Volatility, and Growth,” with Aude Pommeret, Economics Letters 87 (2005), 347-353.

“Currency Devaluation and Contractionary Policy in a Currency Crisis: A Supply-Side Approach,” with Chong Soo Pyun and Young Seob Son, Global Business & Finance Review 10 (2005): 17-25.

“Can the Desire to Conserve Our Natural Resources Be Self-defeating?” with Young Seob Son, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 49 (2005): 52-67.

“But Can She Cook? Women’s Education and Housework Productivity,” with David Sharp, Julia Heath, and David Knowlton, Economics of Education Review 23 (2004): 605-614.

“Consumption and Saving With Habit Formation and Durability,” Economics Letters 75 (2002): 369-375.

“Marshallian Recursive Preferences and Growth,” with Michael Gootzeit and Johannes Schneider, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 49 (2002): 381-404.

“Shipping the Good Times Out: A Note on Apples and Donations of Time and Money,” Economics Bulletin Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 1-14 (2002). You can find this was posted on January 22, 2002 at http://economicsbulletin.vanderbilt.edu.

“How Does the Spirit of Capitalism Affect Stock-Market Prices?” Review of Financial Studies 14 (2001): 1215-1232.

“The Calculus of Fear: Revolution, Repression, and the Rational Peasant,” with Julia Heath, David Mason, and Joseph Weingarten, Social Sciences Quarterly 81 (1999).

“Risk, the Spirit of Capitalism and Growth: the Implications of a Preference for Capital,” Journal of Macroeconomics 21 (1999), pp. 241-262.

“Birth, Death and Consumption: Overlapping Generations and the Random Walk Hypothesis,” International Economic Journal 23 (1998), pp. 105-116.

“The Treatment of Medical Indebtedness in Personal Bankruptcy,” with Dennis Wilson, John Rogers, and Cyril Chang, Journal of Economics 23 (1997).