Knowledge of:
Theory of experimental economics, controlled economic environments, induced value theory, internal validity, external validity, domain of experimental economics, methodological foundations of experimental design, paradigm of no deception, direct experimental control, between-subject design, within-subject design, indirect experimental control (randomisation), preference elicitation methods, selected topics from experimental economics, human-subjects research ethics.

This course will cover the theoretical and methodological background, as well as practical issues of experimental work in economics and finance. The course will discuss methodological issues in the domain of economics experiments, internal validity, external validity, the role of experiments in theory testing and theory suggesting. It will also critically discuss norms and customs in experimental economics research, as well as the use of task related incentives and the no-deception paradigm. On the practical side the course will deal with the questions of: What makes an experimental design good or bad? What are the different degrees of independent observations? What are efficient dialogues with the data? Part of the course will be devoted to practical design issues and students will develop their own experiments as part of a final paper. Time will also be devoted to research ethics.

There is no one textbook that will cover the course. The literature will consist of a wide variety of readings including chapters from textbooks aimed at advanced graduates and contemporary research articles.

Research master’s students only; Microeconomics at a research master’s level (e.g. EBC4061 Microeconomics I and EBC4204 Microeconomics II).