Experimental Economics

Institution: Universität Hamburg, Fakultät für Betriebswirtschaft

Course instructor: Prof. Dr. Markus Nöth (Universität Hamburg)

Date: block course:

April 7 th, 2017: 8:15am-5:00pm (10*45min)
May 5th, 2017: 8:15am-1:00pm (6*45min)
June 2nd, 2017: 8:15am-5:00pm (10*45min)
June 21st, 2017: 6:00pm-7:30pm (2*45min)

Room: tbd (Moorweidenstraße 18, Von-Melle-Park 5 (ExpLab))

Course Value: 2 SWS or 4 LP

Teaching language: English

Registration: Send an email to markus.noeth@uni-hamburg.de until March 17th, 2017; please indicate if you prefer some specific topics to be covered.

Course Overview:
The main goal of this course is to give an introduction to the design and implementation of both laboratory and field experiments in various fields of Economics and Business Administration. PhD students who have some experience with or who consider to set up an experiment are welcome to participate in this course. First, we will identify different research questions for a laboratory or a field experiment. Second, based on a literature review (for some research fields that are proposed by the participants) an experimental design is developed and a pilot experiment will be set up and run in class. As part of this exercise, students will learn the basic requirements of a human subjects committee.

Topics:

  • Identify a suitable research question for an experiment
  • Ethical and scientific standards: historical and scientific reasons, consent requirements, human subjects committee, special requirements (children, elderly people, inmates, …), data collection and evaluation
  • Individual and group experiments in the laboratory
  • Surveys and internet experiments
  • Field experiments in cooperation with a company

General literature:

  • Kagel, John H., and Alvin E. Roth, 1995, The Handbook of Experimental Economics, Princeton University Press, Princeton/Oxford
  • Gerber, Alan S., and Donald P. Green, 2012, Field Experiments, W.W. Norton & Company, London/New York.
  • Kagel, John H., and Alvin E. Roth, 2015, The Handbook of Experimental Economics Volume 2, Princeton University Press, Princeton/Oxford

Assessment:

  • Paper presentation (May 5th)
  • experiment design presentation (extended summary on economic question, relevant literature, hypotheses, design: presentation with max. 10 slides or max. five pages extended abstract)
  • running a pilot experiment is optional