PRICING STRATEGY UNDER MONOPOLY CONDITIONS: AN EXPERIMENT FOR THE CLASSROOM

This classroom experiment allows students to explore pricing strategies available to the monopolist. Students are given full information about their costs but know nothing about demand except that it is simulated by the instructor. They submit their price-asked and quantity-offered records on one day and receive the quantity-sold response from the instructor on the next day, continuing this routine until they discover the profit-maximizing price and quantity. One of the objectives is to demonstrate that search strategies based on economic principles (MC=MR) can be more efficient than trial-and-error.Experimental economics, Games, Monopolistic, Teaching, Demand and Price Analysis, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

PRICING STRATEGY UNDER MONOPOLY CONDITIONS: AN EXPERIMENT FOR THE CLASSROOM

This classroom experiment allows students to explore pricing strategies available to the monopolist. Students are given full information about their costs but know nothing about demand except that it is simulated by the instructor. They submit their price-asked and quantity-offered records on one day and receive the quantity-sold response from the instructor on the next day, continuing this routine until they discover the profit-maximizing price and quantity. One of the objectives is to demonstrate that search strategies based on economic principles (MC=MR) can be more efficient than trial-and-error

WHEN SELF-INTEREST IS SELF-DEFEATING: THE PUBLIC GOODS EXPERIMENT AS A TEACHING TOOL

This simple classroom experiment demonstrates many of the behavioral phenomena associated with the voluntary provision of a public good. The mechanics of the game are explained in detail and complete instructions are provided, as well as suggestions for follow-up lectures. Influences such as anonymous voting, persuasion, returns to free-riding, and duration of association can be explored in connection with concepts of incentives, individual rationality, and group welfare. A number of variations and extensions can be used to incorporate prisoners' dilemmas, incentive compatible mechanisms, negative externalities, and Coasian bargaining

A CLASSROOM EXPERIMENT ON OLIGOPOLIES

This experiment demonstrates principles of decision-making in dynamic oligopolies, especially the difficulties in forming and maintaining cartels. As an illustration of firm behavior under imperfect competition, the game distinguishes between procedurally rational choices and substantively rational decisions in the context of collusive, Cournot, and competitive equilibria. The paper discusses results from an actual classroom exercise and suggests some additional variations in institutional details. Instructions for students and a spreadsheet program for producing payoff tables are provided in the appendices

A CLASSROOM EXPERIMENT ON OLIGOPOLIES

This experiment demonstrates principles of decision-making in dynamic oligopolies, especially the difficulties in forming and maintaining cartels. As an illustration of firm behavior under imperfect competition, the game distinguishes between procedurally rational choices and substantively rational decisions in the context of collusive, Cournot, and competitive equilibria. The paper discusses results from an actual classroom exercise and suggests some additional variations in institutional details. Instructions for students and a spreadsheet program for producing payoff tables are provided in the appendices.Teaching, Experimental economics, Oligopoly, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

WHEN SELF-INTEREST IS SELF-DEFEATING: THE PUBLIC GOODS EXPERIMENT AS A TEACHING TOOL

This simple classroom experiment demonstrates many of the behavioral phenomena associated with the voluntary provision of a public good. The mechanics of the game are explained in detail and complete instructions are provided, as well as suggestions for follow-up lectures. Influences such as anonymous voting, persuasion, returns to free-riding, and duration of association can be explored in connection with concepts of incentives, individual rationality, and group welfare. A number of variations and extensions can be used to incorporate prisoners' dilemmas, incentive compatible mechanisms, negative externalities, and Coasian bargaining.Teaching, Experimental economics, Public goods, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,