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Arthur Robson's pioneering work in the field of the biological basis of economics has earned him the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) Dean’s Medal for Lifetime Achievement as he wraps up his nearly 25-year career as a professor at 91��ܽ.

“Thirty years ago I set out to convince economists to take biological evolution seriously as the foundation of economics,” Robson says. “Since then, I have made modest but definite progress.”

Originally from New Zealand, Robson joined SFU’s Department of Economics in 2002. “Arthur’s arrival changed the department in many ways,” says chair Brian Krauth. “He has made a huge contribution to our research mission, both directly and by challenging all of us to be more ambitious. He also has a gentle sense of humor that is apparent in his work as well as in day-to-day interactions.”

Robson suggests researchers who are just starting out find something they believe in and are passionate about. He says, “If you're doing something you're enthusiastic about, it's not work, it's basically just fun.”

Early in his career, his papers were often rejected by referees at economics journals who argued the work was not economics. This rejection didn’t dissuade him. “I thought, whatever they say, it's still true. And I'm just going to keep saying it.”

Robson’s early research looked at the implications of biological evolution for economic preferences. He wanted to know how different utility functions would have different success in an evolutionary setting so that the people who had the right preferences would be more prevalent than others.

In the past decade his research focus has shifted to how people make decisions based on how their brains operate. “One thing about neuroscience,” Robson says, “is that any idea you have that people make very precise decisions is going to disappear pretty fast. Our brains are noisy. There's a lot of randomness in what you do and how you evaluate the evidence that you see.”  

This randomness can be awkward in the field of economics, where models require precision. The randomness leads to a need to apply relative valuations of options. Robson says, however, that “Economists like to think that you can retain kind of absolute valuations of alternatives.”

Over the course of his career Robson has slowly built a community of like-minded researchers. He has hosted several conferences and this November will host another called Evolution of Economic Behavior at SFU’s Vancouver campus. “I invited presenters from North America who I've had tremendous interactions with in my career,” Robson says, including researchers from Chicago, Yale, Northwestern, Rochester, UBC, and the University of Toronto.  

Robson’s research has been widely recognized: from 2002 to 2017 Robson was Canada Research Chair in Economic Theory and Evolution, Fellow of the Econometric Society, the Killam Research Fellowship and the Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2014 he was the first SFU faculty member to receive the John Rae Prize for outstanding research from the Canadian Economics Association (CEA). He has held visiting positions at University College London, Princeton University, Stockholm School of Economics, New York University, and the University of Chicago.

Although his formal career as a professor is over, Robson has no plans to slow down after retirement. He will be returning to teach graduate microeconomics in the spring. He is currently working on a graduate level monograph with Yale University professor Larry Samuelson called The Evolutionary Foundations of Preferences (Cambridge University Press). He has plans to rework the material for an undergraduate level book as well.

Robson leaves the following words of encouragement for his colleagues: “I wish SFU Economics the best in terms of continuing to climb up the food chain of departments in Canada. It is a lot more feasible than it might appear.”

The department is grateful for his many contributions and wishes him all the best. Brian Krauth says, “It has been a pleasure and an honor to have him as a colleague.”