Experimental Economics

This is the first comprehensive treatment of laboratory experiments designed to evaluate economic propositions under carefully controlled conditions. While it acknowledges that laboratory experiments are no panacea, it argues cogently for their effectiveness in selected situations. Covering methodological and procedural issues as well as theory, Experimental Economics is not only a textbook but also a useful introduction to laboratory methods for professional economists. The emphasis is on organizing and evaluating existing results. The book can be used as an anchoring device for a course at either the graduate or advanced undergraduate level. Applications include financial market experiments, oligopoly price competition, auctions, bargaining, provision of public goods, experimental games, and decision making under uncertainty. The book also contains instructions for a variety of laboratory experiments.laboratory experiments, financial markets, price competition, auctions, bargaining, games, decision making, uncertainty

Experimental economics: science or what?

Do we want experimental economics to evolve into a genuine science? This paper uses the literature on inequity aversion as a case study in warning that we are at risk of losing the respect of other scientific disciplines if we continue to accept the wide claims about human behavior that are currently being advanced without examining either the data from which the claims are supposedly derived or the methodology employed in analyzing the data

Toward a Cognitive Experimental Economics

This paper aims to analyze and exemplify some methodological implications on the way to conduct experiments related to the adoption of a cognitive approach in Economics. Many differences arise in relation to a more traditional way. In fact cognitive economics has strong descriptive attention and aims at beeing closer to reality than the mainstream. Besides the idea of representative agents is questioned. Different kind of experiments, differents analysis and new tools are so required. The paper proposes also some notes on the relation between experimental economics and simulation with artificial agents.cognitive economics, experimental economics, learning

The Experimental Economics of Religion

This article surveys the experimental economics approach to the study of religion. The field has a place in the context of the scientific study of religion generally and the social psychology of religion in particular, but employs distinct economic methods which promise new and different insights. In particular, certain features of the experimental approach as used by economists such as incentive compatibility are particularly appropriate for studying the effect of religion on individual behaviour. The paper discusses results obtained so far in terms of two roles of religion in shaping individual behaviour, i.e. as a social group identifier and as a set of values.religion, religiosity, experiments

Experimental economics: Methods, problems and promise

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the growing importance of experimentation in economic analysis. We present a variety of economic issues that have been explored with laboratory techniques. We also address some common objections to experimentation, as well as some of the principal lessons that have been learned.

Experimental Economics: Applications to Environmental Policy

Incentives, regulations and other policy interventions intended to promote sustainability work through influencing human behaviour. There is therefore much to be gained from a thorough understanding of exactly how various policy interventions relate to the decision-making process. Experimental economics, and the closely related fields of behavioural economics and behavioural finance, apply an empirical approach to study how people act when faced with a range of economic and social scenarios. The experimental approach was pioneered by Vernon Smith and Daniel Kahneman and others, building on early studies by Chamberlin (1948). In recognition of this work, Kahneman and Smith were awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. This paper briefly reviews the applications and methods of experimental economics, relates some key research findings and describes some examples of its use in informing environmental policy.Experimental economics, Behavioral economics, Environmental economics, Environmental markets, Market-based instruments, MBIs