Headshot of Jonathan Wight

Jonathan Wight

Professor of Economics
Curriculum Vitae

  • Profile
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    • Awards

      Policy Communicators Award 2010, Charles Koch Foundation and APEE, First prize
      In-Character National Prize, Templeton Foundation, For best editorial writing on the human virtues. Co-winner with Douglas Hicks.
      Templeton Award for Best Paper, Journal of Private Enterprise Education, For paper entitled, "Adam Smith and Greed"
      Distinguished Educator Award, University of Richmond
      Outstanding Teaching Award, Robins School of Business, University of Richmond
      Outstanding Service Award, Robins School of Richmond, University of Richmond
      National Danforth Fellow, Danforth Foundation, Awarded to graduate students interested in the ethical foundations of their disciplines.

    • Presentations

      "The Kidney Market Debate: A Retrospective on Becker and Elias," on-line conference on Teaching Ethics to Economists: Challenges & Benefits. London South Bank University Business School. October 22, 2021. Invited presentation.

      “What Economists Should Know about Ethics,” invited lecture, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia, May 9, 2018.

      “Integrating Ethics in Economics,” invited lecture, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia, May 7, 2018.

      “Teaching the Ethical Foundations of Economics,” Arizona Council on Economic Education workshop, Phoenix, Arizona, February 10, 2018.

      “Adam Smith’s Operas in Paris,” International Adam Smith Society Conference, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Viña del Mar,Chile, January 13, 2018 (with Olivier Delers and Linda Fairtile).

      “Ethics and the Market for Scientific Discovery in Economics,” invited lecture, University of Technology Sydney, School of Business, Sydney, Australia, July 12, 2017.

      “What Economists Should Know About Ethics,” keynote address, Australiasian Teaching Economics Conference, Sydney, Australia, July 6, 2017.

      “Moral Sentiments in Economics Education: Fiction Provides a Leg-Up in Learning,” Southern Economic Association, Washington, DC., November 2016.

      “Beauty and the Arts: Humanomics and the Role of the Humanities in Economic Discovery,” Southern Economic Association, Washington, DC., November 2016.

      “What Every Economist Should Know about Ethics: Duty and Virtue in the Scientific Process,” Eastern Economic Assn. annual meeting, Washington, DC, February 27, 2016.

      “Comparing Adam Smith to J.M. Keynes on Financial Markets,” ASSA annual meetings, San Francisco, CA, January 3, 2016.

      "Adam Smith and Vernon Smith," ASE Summer School in Social Economics, Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada, June 2015.

      "What Every Economist Needs to Know About Ethics," AEA's Conference on Teaching and Research in Economic Education, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 2015.

      "Adam Smith's Moral Theory in Five Diagrams," annual meeting of the Association for Private Enterprise Education, Cancun, Mexico, April 12-14, 2015.

      "Teaching the Ethical Foundations of Economics," Thomas R. Brown Foundation, workshop co-leader (with John S. Morton), Tucson, AZ, March 8, 2014.

      "Economics within a Pluralist Ethical Tradition," Presidential address to the Association for Social Economics, ASSA, Philadelphia, PA, January 2014.

      "On Socio Economics: Sympathy and Moral Imagination," Practical Wisdom for Management Conference, Yale Center for Faith and Culture with the John Templeton Foundation, Yale Divinity School, New Haven, July 10, 2013.

      "Adam Smith, Ethics and the Teaching of Economics," 24th Annual Teaching Economics Conference, Robert Morris University/McGraw Hill, Pittsburgh, PA, February 14, 2013.

      "Economics and Ethics: Can They Co-exist?" Day workshop for Illinois Association of School Economics Teachers (IASET) Annual Spring Conference, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, April 2012.

      Wight B. Jonathan, Adam Smith in the Classroom, National Conference on Teaching Economics, Stanford University

      Wight B. Jonathan, "Freedom, Government Growth and the Increasing Size of Cities", Association for Private Enterprise Education

      Wight B. Jonathan, Morton S. John, "Teaching the Ethical Foundations of Economics", Workshop on Ethics and Economics, Tucson, AZ

      Wight B. Jonathan, Imperialism and the Gains to Trade, Association for Private Enterprise Education

      Wight B. Jonathan, Public Policy, Human Instincts, and Economic Growth, Association for Private Enterprise Education

      Wight B. Jonathan, Morton S. John, "Teaching the Ethical Foundations of Economics", Workshop on Ethics and Economics, Tucson, AZ

      Wight B. Jonathan, Blevins Benjamin, The Morals of the Mayan Marketplace, Association for Private Enterprise Education
       
      Wight B. Jonathan, The Moral Limits to Markets, Virginia Association of Economists

      Wight B. Jonathan, The Moral Limits to Markets, Southern Economic Association

      Wight B. Jonathan, A New High School Curriculum on the Ethical Foundations of Economics, Association for Private Enterprise Education, Cancun, Mexico

      Wight B. Jonathan, Smith, Darwin, and the Invisible Hand: Implications for Economic Institutions, Association for Private Enterprise Education, Cancun, Mexico

      Wight B. Jonathan, John S. Morton, Teaching the Ethical Foundations of Economics, Workshop on Ethics and Economics, Las Vegas, NV

      Wight B. Jonathan, Top Ten Lessons on Ethics in Economics: The Templeton/NCEE Project , American Economic Association, Chicago, Illinois

      Wight B. Jonathan, Martin Calkins, Smith and Friedman on Profit and Complex Motivations, Society for Business Ethics, Atlanta, GA

      Wight B. Jonathan, The Market and Morality, Association for Private Enterprise Education, Las Vegas, NV

    • Memberships

      Southern Economic Association

      International Adam Smith Society

      Association for Private Enterprise

      Association for Social Economics

      American Economic Association

    • Professional Experience

      Previous positions include:

      Professor of Economics, 2006 -, with joint appointment in global studies, University of Richmond.

      Associate Professor (1988-06) and Assistant Professor (1982-88), University of Richmond.

      Association for Social Economics, President 2013, Pres-Elect 2012, Vice-Pres. 2011, Trustee 2006-2015.

      Co-organizer, ASE Summer School in Social Economics, 2012 and 2015.

      Co-organizer, Workshops on ethics and economics for teachers, '07, '10, '11, '12, '14
      Program Chair, 8 ASE sessions at the ASSA, San Diego, CA, 2013.

      Co-editor, special issue on "Emotions, Natural Selection and Rationality" for the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2011.

      Co-organizer, Liberty Fund colloquium, "Markets, Ethics, and the Evolution of a Moral Society," Indianapolis, January 2010.

      Co-director, Symposium on "Emotions, Natural Selection, and Rationality," University of Richmond, March 2009.

    • Institutional Service

      Economics Department

      Departmental Diversity Advocate, Economics Department. (2010).

      Professional

      Board of Directors of a Company, Association for Social Economics, Vice President. (January 2011 - Present).

      Session chair and session organizer, National Conference on Teaching Economics, American Economic Association, Stanford University. (June 2011).

      Board of Directors of a Company, Powell Center for Economic Literacy, Member. (March 2008 - June 2011).

      Outside reviewer - Promotion Committee, Economics Department, Texas Christian University. (2010).

      Outside reviewer for Provost's Research Award, LaSalle University. (2010).

      Attendee, Meeting, Summer Institute for the Preservation of History of Thought. (June 2010).

      Attendee, Meeting, Liberty Fund. (May 2010).

      Program Organizer, Liberty Fund. (January 2010).

      Session Chair, Association for Social Economics. (January 2009).

      PROMOTION - EXTERNAL REVIEWER, College of Staten Island. (December 2008).

      Grant Proposal Reviewer, External, JOHN TEMPLETON FOUNDATION. (December 2008).

      Board of Advisors of a Company, História e Economia, Member. (2004 - 2008).

      Session Chair, Virginia Association of Economists, annual meeting,. (March 2008).

      Public/Community

      Board of Directors of a Company, Aquia Church Association. (2001 - Present).

      Board of Directors of a Company, Highland Support Project of Guatemala, Secretary. (1993 - Present).

      Robins School of Business

      Full Professors Committee. (August 17, 2006 - Present).

      Committee Member, Full Professors Committee. (August 19, 2008 - May 11, 2009).

      University of Richmond

      PPEL Advisory Committee. (2009 - Present).

      Committee Member, International Studies Advisors. (September 1988 - Present).

      Center for Civic Engagement Steering Committee. (August 17, 2009 - May 7, 2011).

      Day-long workshop on Reconceiving the Liberal Arts. Teagle Foundation, Office of the Chaplaincy. (October 2010).

      Participant, Faculty Seminar, PPEL. (January 2010 - May 2010).

      Committee Member, CCE Advisory Committee. (August 19, 2009 - May 10, 2010).

      Committee Member, IS Advisory Committee. (August 19, 2009 - May 10, 2010).

      Committee Member, PPEL Advisory Committee. (August 19, 2009 - May 10, 2010).

      Calls to admitted students, Admissions Office. (April 2010).

      Committee Member, Jepson School Promotion Committee External Reviewer. (August 2009 - December 2009).

      Chairperson, Honorary Degrees Committee. (August 2007 - June 2009).

      Committee Member, International Education Committee. (2007 - 2008).

      Committee Member, Provost Search  Committee. (September 2007 - March 2008).

  • Selected Publications
    Books

    Ethics in Economics: An Introduction to Moral Frameworks (Stanford University Press, 2015).

    Teaching the Ethical Foundations of Economics (New York: The National Council on Economic Education, 2007), with John S. Morton.

    Editor, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (Hampshire, UK: Harriman House edition, 2007).

    Saving Adam Smith: A Tale of Wealth, Transformation, and Virtue (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2002).

    The Medical Offset Effect and Public Health Policy (New York: Praeger, 1989), with John L. Fiedler.

    Journal Articles

     

    These are some of my favorite publications:

    An Economist at the Opera: Adam Smith's Passion for the Arts in 1766 Paris, with Olivier Delers and Linda Fairtile, The Adam Smith Review (forthcoming).

    The Ethics behind Efficiency, The Journal of Economic Education 28(1)(2017): 15-26.

    The Ethical Economist: Duty and Virtue in the Scientific Process, in The Oxford Handbook of Professional Economic Ethics, George DeMartino and Deirdre McCloskey, eds. (Oxford University Press, 2016): 137-164.

    Economics within a Pluralist Ethical Tradition, Review of Social Economy 72(4)(2014): 417-435. Presidential address to the Association for Social Economics.

    Public Policy, Human Instincts, and Economic Growth, The Independent Review: A Journal of Political Economy 15(3)(2011): 351-365.

    Ethics in the Mayan Marketplace, in Mark D. White, ed., Accepting the Invisible Hand: Market-Based Approaches to Social-Economic Problems (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), with Benjamin Blevins and Guadalupe Ramirez, pp. 87-110.

    The Treatment of Smith's Invisible Hand, The Journal of Economic Education 38(3)(2007): 341-358.

    Adam Smith's Ethics and the "Noble" Arts, Review of Social Economy, Vol. 64(2)(2006): 155- 180.

    The Rise of Adam Smith: Articles and Citations, 1970-97, History of Political Economy 34(1)(Spring 2002): 55-82.

    See my cv for other publications.

  • Links
    Website