The observation of naturally occuring events does not allow a careful isolation of the relevant factors that affect those events, nor to measure precisely their relative importance. Furthermore, some situations are hardly observable, either because they correspond to very rare events in space and time, or because they require a particular combination of factors. Finally, some economic situations cannot be observed without the practical implementation of some policy instrument. Experimental tools have been developed by economists, in order to overcome some of the difficulties of observing naturally occurring events.In a typical experiment, an artificial environment is created, reflecting either the conditions described by economic theory or some hypothetical situation. Therefore economic experiments can be designed to address three types of issues:
- theory testing, by providing relevant data,
- decision aid, by evaluating the impact of various instruments (e.g. a public policy or a firm strategy), without exposing the individuals or groups concerned by those instruments to the potential costs or risks of a real in-situ implementation,
- provide new insights and knowledge about situations for which theory is lacking or incomplete.
Read more
- Frequently Asked Questions about Experimental Economics
- Smith, V., 1994. “Economics in the Laboratory”. Journal of Economic Perspectives 8(1), 113-131
- Smith, V., 1982. “Microeconomic Systems as an Experimental Science”. American Economic Review 72(5), 923-955
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The effect of short selling and borrowing on market prices and traders’ behavior
Building new kinds of meta-models to analyse experimentally (companion) modelling processes in the field of natural resource management
Comportements pro-environnementaux et exposition à la nature : une étude expérimentale
How do markets react to (un)expected fundamental value shocks? An experimental analysis
Do people trust more when they are happy or when they are sad? Evidence from an experiment
Information provision and willingness to pay irrigation water in Tunisian local associations for agricultural development. An experimental economics study
How do incidental emotions impact pro-environmental behavior? Evidence from the dictator game
Partial connectivity increases cultural accumulation within groups
Evidence of genotypic adaptation to the exposure to volcanic risk at the dopamine receptor DRD4 locus
How do incidental emotions impact pro-environmental behavior? Evidence from the dictator game
Who are the Voluntary Leaders? Experimental Evidence from a Sequential Contribution Game
Malevolent Governance, Intra-Group Conflict and the Paradox of the Plenty: An Experiment
Men increase contributions to a public good when under sexual competition
Social learning and the replication process: an experimental investigation
Choice overload, coordination and inequality: three hurdles to the effectiveness of the compensation mechanism?
The trade-off between welfare and equality in a public good experiment
Performance of the ambient tax: does the nature of the damage matter?
How does competition affect the transmission of information?
Incentives and managerial effort under competitive pressure: An experiment
Sharing rules for a Common-Pool Resource with private alternatives
When Allais meets Ulysses: Dynamic axioms and the common ratio effect
Does a membership fee foster successful public good provision? An experimental investigation of the provision of a step-level collective good?
Weak moral motivation leads to the decline of voluntary contributions
Income redistribution and public good provision : an experiment
Optimization incentives and relative riskiness in experimental coordination games
Does identification affect trust and reciprocity in the lab?
Vanishing leadership and declining reciprocity in a sequential contribution experiment
Do static externalities offset dynamic externalities? An experimental study of the exploitation of substitutable common-pool resources
Tolérance de la fraude et évasion fiscale: une analyse expérimentale du modèle de Greenberg
Risque et sélection d'équilibre dans un jeu de coordination: une analyse expérimentale
Researchers, faculty and doctoral students in economics study individual and group behaviour in various economic environments. They are involved in national and international research projects.
The research team relies strongly on laboratory experimentation to carry out those projetcs. For running experiments we need volunteers which are paid for their participation in experimental sessions. The payment rules differ according to the type of experiment. However, on average participants earn between 5 and 25 Euros for a typical session (about 1:30 mn duration).
No knowledge in economics is required to participate in our experiments. Everybody can apply to become a participant.
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