Vernon Smith shared the Nobel Prize in 2002 with Daniel Kahneman. This article surveys Smith's contributions to economics. His early efforts led to greater understanding of markets and market institutions, which developed into important contributions to the design of new markets. Subsequent research focused on the complexity of behavior in simple games, including recent forays into "neuroeconomics". The impact of his work on economic thinking and economic theory is substantial. 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.