This paper begins with the interplay of the induced value theory and the Hayek hypothesis, and subsequently suggests that we need to understand Vernon Smith's experimental method as not simply empirical, but encompassing a commitment to a special version of neoclassical demand theory. To this end, we compare his commitment to Harold Hotelling's important work on demand, an exemplar of what we dub the Mirowski-Hands thesis. By providing an overview of Smith's research up until the mid-1970s, we place this progenitor of experimental economics in a new light, revealing his special epistemic commitments.