Titel

Ex­pe­ri­men­tal eco­no­mics re­sorts to con­trol­led ex­pe­ri­ments to as­sess the out­co­me of a given tre­at­ment, much like in me­di­cal stu­dies. Ex­pe­ri­ments may be con­duc­ted in the field or in la­bo­ra­to­ry set­tings, ge­ne­ral­ly with the goal of de­ter­mi­ning the dri­vers of in­di­vi­du­al or group be­ha­viour. Data collec­ted in ex­pe­ri­ments are used to esti­ma­te ef­fect size, test the va­li­di­ty of eco­no­mic theo­ries, and shed light on the func­tio­n­ing of mar­ket me­cha­nisms. Eco­no­mic ex­pe­ri­ments usual­ly use fi­nan­cial in­cen­ti­ves to mo­ti­va­te sub­jects (often drawn from the stu­dent po­pu­la­ti­on). Given that de­cis­i­ons in the ex­pe­ri­ments are payoff-​consequential, it is hoped that be­ha­vi­or in the ex­pe­ri­men­tal games will be con­sis­tent to that ob­ser­ved under real-​world in­cen­ti­ves. Con­trol­led ex­pe­ri­ments vary si­gni­fi­cant­ly in their goal and scale, but al­ways rely on re­pea­ta­ble pro­ce­du­re and lo­gi­cal ana­ly­sis of the re­sults based on tre­at­ment dif­fe­ren­ces.