Hardback
A Research Agenda for Experimental Economics
Written by well-established researchers in behavioural economics, this Research Agenda illustrates the application of incentivised decision-making experiments, highlighting how this can add a new and novel dimension to social science research. Informative and timely, it explores how experiments are being used by pioneers in a diverse range of fields when research questions may not be amenable to field studies, vignettes or surveys.
More Information
Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
More Information
Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary.
Written by well-established researchers in behavioural economics, this Research Agenda illustrates the application of incentivised decision-making experiments, highlighting how this can add a new and novel dimension to social science research. Informative and timely, it explores how experiments are being used by pioneers in a diverse range of fields when research questions may not be amenable to field studies, vignettes or surveys.
Offering fruitful cross-disciplinary discussions, the chapters look at incentivised decision-making experiments in the study of: social norms, law and economics, environmental regulations, entrepreneurship, healthy behaviour, gender and leadership, political ideology, and neuroeconomics. Chapters provide an opportunity for experienced experimental economists to develop more innovative applications of their tools and scope for less experienced scholars to learn how to incorporate experiments in their research questions.
Researchers in economics, political science, sociology, as well as business and management will find this to be a beneficial read. Policy makers looking to understand how experimental tools and behavioural nudges are used to improve policy will also appreciate the key theoretical and practical applications of the topics offered in this Research Agenda.
Written by well-established researchers in behavioural economics, this Research Agenda illustrates the application of incentivised decision-making experiments, highlighting how this can add a new and novel dimension to social science research. Informative and timely, it explores how experiments are being used by pioneers in a diverse range of fields when research questions may not be amenable to field studies, vignettes or surveys.
Offering fruitful cross-disciplinary discussions, the chapters look at incentivised decision-making experiments in the study of: social norms, law and economics, environmental regulations, entrepreneurship, healthy behaviour, gender and leadership, political ideology, and neuroeconomics. Chapters provide an opportunity for experienced experimental economists to develop more innovative applications of their tools and scope for less experienced scholars to learn how to incorporate experiments in their research questions.
Researchers in economics, political science, sociology, as well as business and management will find this to be a beneficial read. Policy makers looking to understand how experimental tools and behavioural nudges are used to improve policy will also appreciate the key theoretical and practical applications of the topics offered in this Research Agenda.
Critical Acclaim
‘A definite advantage of A Research Agenda for Experimental Economics is its focus on the most recent developments in specific areas within behavioural economics. The contributing authors demonstrate both a high level of professional expertise and genuine passion for the featured topics. Another strength of the book is its attempt not only to discuss the current state of research in particular fields, but also to provide readers with future directions. Each chapter elaborates on possible (and sometimes even desirable) avenues within the discussed topic. Overall this book is a strong illustration of how broad and absorbing economics is and the importance of multidisciplinarity. Furthermore, there is no path dependence in the collection, so if a reader is interested in a particular topic, they can easily delve into it directly.’
– Ananish Chaudhuri, LSE Review of Books
‘In A Research Agenda for Experimental Economics, Ananish Chaudhuri provides a thoughtful, albeit eclectic collection of chapters on the state of the literature in experimental economics. The set of authors is impressive. Chaudhuri has produced a volume that will do much to promote discussion about innovative, interdisciplinary collaborations.’
– Alexander Smith, Journal of Economic Psychology
‘This edited volume by Ananish Chaudhuri will become standard reading for anyone interested in keeping up with the latest developments in the field of experimental economics. The collection will appeal to a broad audience, and promises to be an important reference for scholars not just of economics, but of sociology, politics, psychology, law and environmental studies.’
– Abhijit Ramalingam, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
‘This adventurous collection samples widely from interesting domains of economics experiments. It touches all the important themes in why lab control is so extraordinarily useful for understanding general economic principles, and what we can look forward to.’
– Colin Camerer, California Institute of Technology, US
‘This collection of articles in behavioral economics spans many of the exciting directions in which behavioral economics advances our understanding of human behavior. It serves simultaneously as a great introduction to the topic and a fantastic guide for future directions.’
– Uri Gneezy, University of California, San Diego, US
‘Ananish Chaudhuri has brought together an impressive collection of articles by leading scholars, exemplary in both breadth and depth of coverage. The book highlights the central role experiments play in contemporary economic research, and will leave readers inspired to bring experimental economics to their own research agendas.’
– Dan Houser, George Mason University, US
‘An exciting potpourri of papers nicely illustrating the range of contemporary research being done with the still-emerging toolkit of experimental economics, this volume is edited with a keen eye towards fundamental issues of methodology, and with a bias towards societally important topics. Chaudhuri is to be commended for bringing together a great set of contributors and providing his own uniquely thoughtful insights in the introduction.’
– Louis Putterman, Brown University, US
‘While experimental economics has been around for more than half a century its usefulness is still underappreciated. This book aims to demonstrate the potential of experiments in a wide variety of applications from the study of norms to environmental issues, gender, politics and law. As such, the book lays out the versatility of the experimental method and its policy relevance. With chapters written by experts in each area the book should be a must read for those interested in expanding their analytical and policy toolkits. I strongly recommend it.’
– Andrew Schotter, New York University, US
‘This is a very exciting book. It covers topics of experiments in economics that are quite well-known to the field, but also newer areas such as entrepreneurship, neuroeconomics, sleep deprivation, or political ideology. Both experienced researchers and researchers that are not familiar with the experimental approach will find a lot of interesting material, thought-provoking results, and detailed information about study designs. The book speaks to economists and other social scientists as well. The authors are top researchers in their areas.’
– Martin Kocher, Federal Minister for Labour, Family and Youth, Government of Austria
– Ananish Chaudhuri, LSE Review of Books
‘In A Research Agenda for Experimental Economics, Ananish Chaudhuri provides a thoughtful, albeit eclectic collection of chapters on the state of the literature in experimental economics. The set of authors is impressive. Chaudhuri has produced a volume that will do much to promote discussion about innovative, interdisciplinary collaborations.’
– Alexander Smith, Journal of Economic Psychology
‘This edited volume by Ananish Chaudhuri will become standard reading for anyone interested in keeping up with the latest developments in the field of experimental economics. The collection will appeal to a broad audience, and promises to be an important reference for scholars not just of economics, but of sociology, politics, psychology, law and environmental studies.’
– Abhijit Ramalingam, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
‘This adventurous collection samples widely from interesting domains of economics experiments. It touches all the important themes in why lab control is so extraordinarily useful for understanding general economic principles, and what we can look forward to.’
– Colin Camerer, California Institute of Technology, US
‘This collection of articles in behavioral economics spans many of the exciting directions in which behavioral economics advances our understanding of human behavior. It serves simultaneously as a great introduction to the topic and a fantastic guide for future directions.’
– Uri Gneezy, University of California, San Diego, US
‘Ananish Chaudhuri has brought together an impressive collection of articles by leading scholars, exemplary in both breadth and depth of coverage. The book highlights the central role experiments play in contemporary economic research, and will leave readers inspired to bring experimental economics to their own research agendas.’
– Dan Houser, George Mason University, US
‘An exciting potpourri of papers nicely illustrating the range of contemporary research being done with the still-emerging toolkit of experimental economics, this volume is edited with a keen eye towards fundamental issues of methodology, and with a bias towards societally important topics. Chaudhuri is to be commended for bringing together a great set of contributors and providing his own uniquely thoughtful insights in the introduction.’
– Louis Putterman, Brown University, US
‘While experimental economics has been around for more than half a century its usefulness is still underappreciated. This book aims to demonstrate the potential of experiments in a wide variety of applications from the study of norms to environmental issues, gender, politics and law. As such, the book lays out the versatility of the experimental method and its policy relevance. With chapters written by experts in each area the book should be a must read for those interested in expanding their analytical and policy toolkits. I strongly recommend it.’
– Andrew Schotter, New York University, US
‘This is a very exciting book. It covers topics of experiments in economics that are quite well-known to the field, but also newer areas such as entrepreneurship, neuroeconomics, sleep deprivation, or political ideology. Both experienced researchers and researchers that are not familiar with the experimental approach will find a lot of interesting material, thought-provoking results, and detailed information about study designs. The book speaks to economists and other social scientists as well. The authors are top researchers in their areas.’
– Martin Kocher, Federal Minister for Labour, Family and Youth, Government of Austria
Contributors
Contributors: Q. Atkinson, T.N. Cason, A. Chaudhuri, S. Cowie, D.L. Dickinson,C. Eckel, K. Fischer, L. Friesen, L. Gangadharan, J. Gibson, P.J. Grossman, A. Guerra, I. Kirk, O. Krigolson, P. Maitra, A. Neelim, J. Tremewan, A. Vostroknutov, N. Xue
Contents
Contents:
1 Introduction to A Research Agenda for
Experimental Economics 1
Ananish Chaudhuri
PART I
2 An informational framework for studying social norms 19
James Tremewan and Alexander Vostroknutov
3 Experiments in law and economics 43
Alice Guerra
4 Complying with environmental regulations:
experimental evidence 69
Timothy N. Cason, Lana Friesen and Lata Gangadharan
5 Behavioural characteristics, stability of
preferences and entrepreneurial success 93
Pushkar Maitra and Ananta Neelim
6 Experimental evidence on behavioural nudges in health 119
John Gibson
PART II
7 The gender leadership gap: insights from experiments 137
Catherine Eckel, Lata Gangadharan, Philip J.
Grossman, and Nina Xue
8 Experiments in political psychology 163
Kyle Fischer, Quentin D. Atkinson, and Ananish Chaudhuri
9 Neuroeconomics 191
Sarah Cowie, Ian Kirk, and Olav Krigolson
10 Sleep and decision-making 213
David L. Dickinson
Index
1 Introduction to A Research Agenda for
Experimental Economics 1
Ananish Chaudhuri
PART I
2 An informational framework for studying social norms 19
James Tremewan and Alexander Vostroknutov
3 Experiments in law and economics 43
Alice Guerra
4 Complying with environmental regulations:
experimental evidence 69
Timothy N. Cason, Lana Friesen and Lata Gangadharan
5 Behavioural characteristics, stability of
preferences and entrepreneurial success 93
Pushkar Maitra and Ananta Neelim
6 Experimental evidence on behavioural nudges in health 119
John Gibson
PART II
7 The gender leadership gap: insights from experiments 137
Catherine Eckel, Lata Gangadharan, Philip J.
Grossman, and Nina Xue
8 Experiments in political psychology 163
Kyle Fischer, Quentin D. Atkinson, and Ananish Chaudhuri
9 Neuroeconomics 191
Sarah Cowie, Ian Kirk, and Olav Krigolson
10 Sleep and decision-making 213
David L. Dickinson
Index
