Robert Forsythe

Emeritus Professor of Finance

Faculty areas of expertise

Financial markets, prediction markets, business education, educational-corporate partnerships

Get in touch

Phone
319-325-0719

Email
robert.forsythe@wayne.edu

Office

Mike Ilitch School of Business
2771 Woodward Avenue
Suite 429
Detroit, MI 48201

Get to know Robert Forsythe

Biography

Bob Forsythe served as dean of the Wayne State University Mike Ilitch School of Business from 2014 to 2022. Under his leadership, the Ilitch School was renamed in 2015 in recognition of a historic $40 million gift from the Ilitch family, which allowed the school to build its state-of-the-art home in The District Detroit. Forsythe's tenure also included the development of several new academic programs, including those in entrepreneurship and innovation and sport and entertainment management, and student success and mentoring initiatives.

Prior to his arrival at WSU, Forsythe was on the faculty of the College of Business at the University of South Florida, serving as dean from 2006-2012. Under his leadership, the business school at USF launched several innovative programs that enhanced student success and engagement at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Perhaps most notably, he established the Bulls Business Community, a living-learning residential program for top incoming freshmen pursuing a business degree. He also led the charge to restructure the M.B.A. program to make it more accessible to working professionals without sacrificing program quality or rigor.

In 1981, he joined the economics faculty at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, where he served as the Cedar Rapids Professor of Business and later as the senior associate dean and Hadley Professor of Leadership. While in Iowa, he cofounded the Iowa Electronics Market, a futures market for online trading in contracts on political and economic events.

- Ph.D., Economics, Carnegie Mellon University
- M.S., Economics and Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University
- B.S., Quantitative Business Analysis, Pennsylvania State University
Financial markets, prediction markets, business education, educational-corporate partnerships

Books
R. Forsythe and D.A. Walker, College Mathematics for Economics and Business Analysis, Goodyear Publishing Company, 1976.
Refereed Publications
R. Forsythe, “Unanimity and the Theory of the Firm under Multiplicative Uncertainty,” Southern Economic Journal, 46, 1979, 218-232.
J.A. Ferejohn, R. Forsythe, and R.G. Noll, “An Experimental Analysis of Decision-Making Procedures for Discrete Public Goods: A Case Study of a Problem in Institutional Design,” Research in Experimental Economics, 1, V.L. Smith, ed., JAI Press, 1979, 1-59.
D.P. Baron and R. Forsythe, “Models of the Firm and International Trade Under Uncertainty,” American Economic Review, 69, 1979, 565-574.
D.P. Baron and R. Forsythe, “Uncertainty and the Theory of Tax Incidence in a Stock Market Economy,” International Economic Review, 22, 1981, 567-576.
J.A. Ferejohn, R. Forsythe, R.G. Noll and T.R. Palfrey, “An Experimental Examination of Auction Mechanisms for Discrete Public Goods,” Research in Experimental Economics, 2, V.L. Smith, ed., JAI Press, 1982, 175-199.
R. Forsythe and R.M. Isaac, “Demand Revealing Mechanisms for Private Good Auctions,” Research in Experimental Economics, 2, V.L. Smith, ed., JAI Press, 1982, 45-62.
R. Forsythe, T.R. Palfrey and C.R. Plott, “Asset Valuation in an Experimental Market,” Econometrica, 50, 1982, 537-568. Reprinted in Experimental Economics, Vernon L. Smith, ed., Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 1990 and Information, Finance and General Equilibrium: Collected Papers on the Experimental Foundations of Economics and Political Science, C R Plott, ed., Economists of the Twentieth Century series, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2001.
R. Forsythe and G.L. Suchanek, “The Impossibility of Efficient Decision Rules for Firms in Competitive Stock Market Economies,” Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 17, 1982, 555-574.
R. Forsythe and G.L. Suchanek, “Collective Decision Mechanisms and Efficient Stock Market Allocations: Existence of a Participation Equilibrium,” International Economic Review, 24 1984, 21-43.
R. Forsythe, T.R. Palfrey and C.R. Plott, “Futures Markets and Informational Efficiency: A Laboratory Test,” Journal of Finance, 39, 1984, 955-983. Reprinted Information, Finance and General Equilibrium: Collected Papers on the Experimental Foundations of Economics and Political Science, C R Plott, ed., Economists of the Twentieth Century series, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2001.
D.V. DeJong, R. Forsythe and W.C. Uecker, “The Methodology of Laboratory Markets and Its Implications for Agency Research in Accounting and Auditing,” Journal of Accounting Research, 23, 1985, 753- 793.
D. DeJong, R. Forsythe, R. Lundholm and W.C. Uecker, “A Laboratory Investigation of the Moral Hazard Problem in an Agency Relationship,” Journal of Accounting Research, 23, 1985, 81-120.
D.V. DeJong, R. Forsythe and W.C. Uecker, “A Note on the Use of Businessmen as Subjects in Sealed Offer Markets,” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 9, 1988, 87-100.
R. Forsythe and G.L. Suchanek, “Decentralizing Constrained Pareto Optimal Allocations in Stock Ownership Economies: An Impossibility Theorem,” International Economic Review, 28, 1987, 299-313.
A.F. Daughety and R. Forsythe, “Regulatory-Induced Industrial Organization: A Laboratory Investigation,” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organizations, 3, 1987, 397-434.
D.V. DeJong, R. Forsythe, J. Kim and W.C. Uecker, “A Laboratory Investigation of Alternative Transfer Pricing Mechanisms,” Accounting, Organizations and Society, 14, 1989, 41-64.
R. Forsythe, J. Kennan and B. Sopher, “Dividing a Shrinking Pie: An Experimental Study of Strikes,” Research in Experimental Economics, 4, R.M. Isaac, ed., JAI Press, 1991, 223-267.
R. Forsythe, F. Nelson, G. Neumann and J. Wright, “Forecasting the 1988 Presidential Election: A Field Experiment,” Research in Experimental Economics, 4, R. M. Isaac, ed., JAI Press, 1991, 1-44.
R. Forsythe, R.M. Isaac, T.R. Palfrey, “Theories and Tests of ‘Blind Bidding’ in Sealed Bid Auctions,” Rand Journal of Economics, 20, 1989, 214-238.
R. Cooper, D.V. DeJong, R. Forsythe and T.W. Ross, “Selection Criteria in Coordination Games: Some Experimental Results,” American Economic Review, 80, 1990, 218-233. Reprinted in Recent Developments in Experimental Economics, John D. Hey and Graham Loomes, eds., Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 1993.
R. Forsythe and R.J. Lundholm, “Information Aggregation in an Experimental Market,” Econometrica, 58, 1990, 309-348. Reprinted in Recent Developments in Experimental Economics, John D. Hey and Graham Loomes, eds., Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 1993.
R. Cooper, D.V. DeJong, R. Forsythe and T.W. Ross, “Communication in Battle-of-the-Sexes Games: Some Experimental Results,” The Rand Journal of Economics, 20, 1989, 568-587.
R. Forsythe, J. Kennan and B. Sopher, “An Experimental Analysis of Bargaining and Strikes with One-Sided Private Information,” American Economic Review, 81, 1991, 253-278.
R. Cooper, D. DeJong, R. Forsythe and T. Ross, “Communication in Coordination Games,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107, 1992, 739-771. Reprinted in Experiments in Environmental Economics, Jason F. Shogren, ed., Ashgate Publishing Limited, Hampshire, England, 2003.
D. DeJong, R. Forsythe, R. Lundholm and S. Watts, “Do Prices Convey Information? Further Experimental Evidence,” Research in Experimental Economics, 5, R.M. Isaac, ed., JAI Press, 1993, 61-80.
R. Forsythe, J. Horowitz, N. Savin and M. Sefton, “Fairness in Simple Bargaining Experiments,” Games and Economic Behavior, 6, 1994, 347-369. To be reprinted in The Economics of Fairness, Alexander W. Cappelen and Bertil Tungodden, eds., Edwin Elgar Co., England, 2019.
R. Forsythe, F. Nelson, G. Neumann and J. Wright, “Anatomy of an Experimental Political Stock Market,” American Economic Review, 82, 1992, 1142-1161.
R. Cooper, D. DeJong, R. Forsythe and T.W. Ross, “Forward Induction in Coordination Games,” Economic Letters, 40, 1992, 167-172.
R. Forsythe, R. Myerson, T. Rietz and R. Weber, “An Experiment on Coordination in Multi-Candidate Elections: The Importance of Polls and Election Histories” Social Choice and Welfare, 10, 1993, 223-247.
R. Cooper, D. DeJong, R. Forsythe and T. Ross, “Forward Induction in Battle of the Sexes Games,” American Economic Review, 83, 1993, 1303-1316.
R. Forsythe, R. Myerson, T. Rietz and R. Weber, “An Experimental Study of Voting Rules and Polls in Three-Way Elections,” International Journal of Game Theory, 25, 1996, 355-383.
R. Forsythe, M. Frank, V. Krishnamurthy and T. Ross, “Using Market Prices to Predict Election Results: The 1993 UBC Election Stock Market,” Canadian Journal of Economics, 28, 1995, 770-793.
R. Cooper, D. DeJong, R. Forsythe and T. Ross, “Cooperation without Reputation: Experimental Evidence from Prisoner’s Dilemma Games,” Games and Economic Behavior, 12, 1996, 187-218.
D. DeJong, R. Forsythe, J. Schatzberg and W. Uecker, “The Effects of Opportunities for Collusion on the Moral Hazard Problem: A Laboratory Investigation,” Research in Experimental Economics, 6, R.M. Isaac, ed., JAI Press, 1996, 1-51.
R. Forsythe, M. Frank, V. Krishnamurthy, T. Ross, “Markets as Predictors of Election Outcomes: Campaign Events and Judgment Bias in the 1993 UBC Election Stock Market,” Canadian Journal of Public Policy, 24, 1998, 329-351.
R. Forsythe, R. Lundholm and T. Rietz, “Cheap Talk, Fraud and Adverse Selection in Experimental Markets: Some Experimental Evidence,” The Review of Financial Studies, 12, 1999, 481-518.
R. Forsythe, T. Rietz, and T. Ross, “Wishes, Expectations and Actions: A Survey on Price Formation in Election Stock Markets,” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 39, 1999, 83-110.
K. Arrow, R. Forsythe, M. Gorham, R. Hahn, R. Hanson, J. Ledyard, S. Levmore, R. Litan, P. Milgrom, F. Nelson, G. Neumann, M. Ottaviani, T. Schelling, R. Shiller, V. Smith, E. Snowberg, C. Sunstein, P. Tetlock, H. Varian, J. Wolfers, E. Zitzewitz, “The Promise of Prediction Markets,” Science, 320, 2008, 887-888.
Invited Publications
D. DeJong, R. Forsythe and R. Lundholm, “Ripoffs, Lemons and Reputation Formation in Agency Relationships: A Laboratory Market Study,” Journal of Finance, 40, 1985, 809-823.
A. Daughety and R. Forsythe, “Regulation and the Formation of Reputations: A Laboratory Analysis,” in Public Regulation: New Perspectives on Institutions and Policies, E. Bailey, ed., MIT Press, 1987, 347-398.
D. DeJong, R. Forsythe and W. Uecker, “The Relevance of Laboratory Markets for Examining Policy Issues in the Market for Audit Services,” The Accounting Forum, (December 1985), 27-41.
D. DeJong, R. Forsythe and J. Schatzberg, “An Empirical Examination of Agency Costs in Laboratory Markets,” in Laboratory Market Research, S. Moriarity, ed., University of Oklahoma Press, 1986, 86-116.
R. Forsythe, “The Application of Laboratory Markets in Testing Theories of Resource Allocation Under Uncertainty,” in The Handbook of Behavioral Economics, vol. A, B. Gilad and S. Kaish, eds., JAI Press, 1986, 19-62.
A. Daughety and R. Forsythe, “Complete Information Outcomes without Common Knowledge,” in Proceedings for the Second Conference on Theoretical Aspects of Reasoning About Knowledge, M. Vardi, ed., Morgan-Kaufmann Publishers, 1988, 195-210.
R. Forsythe, F. Nelson, G. Neumann and J. Wright, “The Explanation and Prediction of Presidential Elections: A Market Alternative to Polls,” in Laboratory Research in Political Economy, T. R. Palfrey, ed., University of Michigan Press, 1991, 69-112.
D. DeJong and R. Forsythe, “A Perspective on the Use of Experimental Economics in Auditing Research,” Accounting Review, 67, 1992, 157-171.
R. Cooper, D. DeJong, R. Forsythe and T. Ross, “Alternative Institutions for Evaluating Coordination Problems: Experimental Evidence on Forward Induction and Pre-Play Communication,” in Problems of Coordination in Economic Activity, J.W. Friedman, ed., Kluwer, 1994, 129-146.
R. Forsythe, F. Nelson, G. Neumann and J. Wright, “The 1992 Iowa Political Stock Market: September Forecasts,” The Political Methodologist, 5, 1994, 15-19.
J. Berg, R. Forsythe and T. Rietz, “What Makes Markets Predict Well? Evidence from the Iowa Electronic Markets” in Understanding Strategic Interaction: Essays in Honor of Reinhard Selten, W. Albers, W. Güth, P. Hammerstein, B. Moldovanu, E. van Damme eds., Springer, 1997, 444-463.
J. Berg, R. Forsythe and T. Rietz, “The Iowa Electronic Market,” The Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Finance, D. Paxson and D. Wood, eds., (Volume VIII of The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management, C. Cooper and C. Agyris, eds.), 1st and 2nd editions Blackwell, Oxford UK, 1997.
J. Berg, R. Forsythe, F. Nelson, T. Rietz, “Results from a Dozen Years of Election Futures Markets Research,” The Handbook of Experimental Economic Results, Vol. 1, C. Plott and V.L. Smith, eds., Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2005.