Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Fall, 2007
Thursday, 2:30-5:15pm
SOM 2.903
Introduction
Textbooks
Experimental Economics: Douglas Davis and Charles Holt. Princeton University Press, 1992.
The Handbook of Experimental Economics: John Kagel and Alvin Roth (eds). Princeton
University Press, 1995.
Experimental Methods: A Primer for Economists: Daniel Friedman and Shyam Sunder.
Cambridge University Press, 1994.
This course involves a heavy reading load. In the beginning of the course students read
surveys of the various subfields and one or two original papers per week, toward the end
they read a series of original research papers (both published and unpublished) related to
their field of interest. At the end of the course, students will produce a paper proposing an
original and publishable research topic in the field
(1) Seven written referee reports (20%): In each of seven classes, students will
choose an original paper to read and to write up. The written reports should be
relatively short 1-2 pages, and should not include a summary of the paper itself.
Instead, students should focus on shortcomings of the paper, and suggest more
research that should be done to nail down or further explore the results presented.
These reports thus should be critical, as though the student were writing to the
author, identifying holes in the paper, and recommending ways to fix them.
(2) Seven presentations of referee reports (10%): In each of the seven classes,
students will present their referee report to the class. This presentation may
include a summary of the paper, as well as the paper’s limitations and suggestions
for addressing them.
(3) Z-Tree assignment (20%): Toward the end of the class each student will be
expected to learn Z-Tree, a computer program which can be customized for
running experiments. Mastering the program should take 1-2 days. Students will
be expected to program a sample experiment, and demonstrate their program to
the professor (and possibly to the class, if time permits).
(4) Final paper (50%): At the end of the course students will be expected to write
and present a final paper. This paper should be a publishable experimental paper,
up to but not including the experimental results. The paper should thus include
an introduction / motivation section, a literature review, a section on experimental
design and implementation and (if possible) a link to an appropriate Z-tree
program. Students will schedule meetings with a “research buddy,” another
student in the class to get feedback on their initial ideas, as well as a meeting with
Professor Croson to further refine their plan before finalizing their papers.
Schedule of Classes