Seminar Experimental Economics Summer Term 2011

Topic:

During the seminar participants will

• …formulate their own research question,
• …develop a laboratory experiment designed to answer this question,
• …conduct this experiment with other seminar participants as a pilot,
• …analyze the collected data,
• …present their results orally and in a written essay.

To avoid misunderstandings: This is neither a seminar on Experimental Business Administration nor one on Experimental Marketing. The focus of this seminar is on experiments in an economic context.

Organisation

Kirsten Häger

Language

The language for this seminar will English.

Dates

Registration

For students with target degree "Bachelor" places for seminars during the winter term are planned centrally by Armin Scholl. Students with target degrees "Master" and "Diplom" send their application until end of March (there are still some places left) to Kirsten Häger. Once you have registered for this course we will assume that you will fulfill all requirements. Please make sure before registering that you can attend all sessions.

Until 29 March 2011

Submit your detailed research question including answers to the questions below (as a PDF, 1-2 pages, e-mail to Kirsten Häger).

Tue 05.04.2011, 14:00-18:00 h (August Bebel Str. 4, , SR E013b)

Introduction I

Thu 07.04.2011, 14:00-17:00 h (August Bebel Str. 4, , SR E013a)

Introduction II

Thu 12.05.2011, 14:00-19:00 h (August Bebel Str. 4, , SR E013a) - Termin fällt aus

Feedback

Tue 21.06.2011, 13:00-19:00 h (August Bebel Str. 4, , SR E013a)

Presentation

until 01.08.2011

Hand in your essay (as a PDF)

Prerequisites:

Basic knowledge in empirical work and statistics; interest in scientific work. Knowledge in game theory will be helpful but is not required. The lecture in Experimental Economics might also be helpful.

Formal requirements:

This seminar is open for Bachelor, Master, and Diploma students. Please consult your examination regulations. For diploma students usually the "Vordiplom" is required.

Assignments:

• At the beginning of the seminar you will submit your written research question (1-2 pages).
• You will present (5-10 minutes) your research question.
• You will present your experimental design (40 minutes as a group).
• You will conduct your experiment.
• You will present your experimental results (40 minutes as a group).
• We find it important that participants actively contribute in discussions during the seminar.
• At the end of the seminar you will present your experiment and your results briefly as an essay of about 1500 words +/- 10%).
• All of the mentioned required requirements will count for your grade.

Credits

• As seminar AVWL, Wirtschaftstheorie for Diploma students;
• as seminar BW24.3 for Bachelor students;
• As seminar MW24.4 for Master students in Economics.

We expect advanced achievements and skills from students in advanced study programs.

Outline of the seminar

• Preparation of introduction sessions:
  • Please choose a research question from the field of economics. This question should be interesting and should have the potential to be answered with a laboratory experiment.
  • To develop a research question you can take a look at already existing experiments and consider small modifications of these experiments.

    Current research can be inspiring. Read, e.g., current issues of Econometrica, American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, etc. and find out what researchers are currently discussing. If you have the feeling that the current discussion leaves questions aside and that these questions can be answered with an experiment then you might have a starting point.

    Alternatively you can look at current experiments. Read the journal Experimental Economics and look for improvements in the experiments that are presented there. You can also take a look at the websites of the GfeW or esa who organize conferences on experimental economics. There you will find abstracts of current research. More details can be found on the websites of the respective authors. Use these opportunities to inspire your research. It is often possible to combine two research ideas to a new research question.

  • Every participant of the seminar will send us the research question and short answers to the following questions (1-2 pages, see deadline above):
    1. What do you know about answers to this question? Think about lectures you have heard, literature you can read, search the internet, etc… Have similar questions already been discussed in the literature? Which gap do you want to close with your study? (visit the library to answer this question)
    2. What possibilities do you have to find an answer to this question? Include experimental and non-experimental methods.
    3. What are advantages and disadvantages of the experimental method?
    4. Is it possible that your experiment yields a surprising answer?
    5. Do you have an idea for an experimental design? Describe the details of your design.<</LI>
    6. Is this the simplest possible design to answer your question?
    These points should help you to find a good research question.
• During the introduction sessions each participant will briefly present her or his research question (5-10 minutes). We will then try to bundle research questions and build groups that will work on particularly promising questions.
• During the following weeks until the feedback session each of the groups will define their research question more precisely. You will do more literature research to find out to which extent your question has already been answered and where you can fill a gap (studying the existing literature is inevitable at this point) to develop your experimental design.
• In the feedback session each group will present a research question and an experimental design to answer this question (40 minutes). At this point we will assume that you have conducted an extensive literature research and that you know the major findings of your research topic.
• In the following weeks you will incorporate the feedback, develop a detailed design for your experiment, implement the experiment, conduct the experiment with the other participants of the seminar, and analyze the data.
• During the presentation session each group will present its work with the following points (40 minutes):
  1. What is the state of the art in your research field?
  2. What is your research question and why is it interesting?
  3. How did you conduct your experiment to answer this question? Why did you choose your design and no other? Which hypotheses do you want to test with this experiment?
  4. Which results did you observe in your experiment?
  5. Which conclusions do you draw? In which direction should further research go?
• After the presentation session every seminar participant will write an essay (1.500 words +/-10\%) about the research project focusing on one particular aspect.
• When you prepare a written report, keep in mind some remarks that might help you in the preparation of your essay and your presentation.

Literature:

• Charles A. Holt; Markets, Games & Strategic Behavior; Pearson, 2007.
• J. H. Kagel and A. E. Roth; The Handbook of Experimental Economics; Princeton University Press, 1995.
• Daniel Friedman, Shyam Sunder; Experimental Methods: A Primer for Economists; Cambridge Univ Press, 1994
• Douglas D. Davis and Charles A. Holt; Experimental Economics; Princeton University Press, 1993.