UCSC LEEPS Lab Protocol for Online Economics Experiments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuchen Zhao ◽  
Kristian López Vargas ◽  
Daniel Friedman ◽  
Marco Antonio Gutierrez Chavez
Keyword(s):  
Economics Experiments

Experimental methods for environment and development economics

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARIAH D. EHMKE ◽  
JASON F. SHOGREN
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Experimental Economics ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Test Theory ◽  
Resource Base ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Economics Experiments ◽  
Patterns Of Behavior ◽  
Environment And Development ◽  
Cycle Of Poverty

ABSTRACTMany poor countries remain trapped in a cycle of poverty and environmental degradation. Understanding how people react to existing and proposed solutions most likely can be improved using the methods of experimental economics. Experiments provide researchers a method to test theory, look for patterns of behavior, testbed economic institutions and incentives, and to educate people. Herein we explore how experimental economics has been used and could be used to help guide decision making to increase prosperity without overexploiting the resource base and environmental assets needed for basic survival.

scholarly journals Conditional cooperation and confusion in public-goods experiments

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (5) ◽  
pp. 1291-1296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwell N. Burton-Chellew ◽  
Claire El Mouden ◽  
Stuart A. West
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Conditional Cooperation ◽  
Common Assumption ◽  
Economics Experiments ◽  
Cast Doubt ◽  
Public Good Games

Economic experiments are often used to study if humans altruistically value the welfare of others. A canonical result from public-good games is that humans vary in how they value the welfare of others, dividing into fair-minded conditional cooperators, who match the cooperation of others, and selfish noncooperators. However, an alternative explanation for the data are that individuals vary in their understanding of how to maximize income, with misunderstanding leading to the appearance of cooperation. We show that (i) individuals divide into the same behavioral types when playing with computers, whom they cannot be concerned with the welfare of; (ii) behavior across games with computers and humans is correlated and can be explained by variation in understanding of how to maximize income; (iii) misunderstanding correlates with higher levels of cooperation; and (iv) standard control questions do not guarantee understanding. These results cast doubt on certain experimental methods and demonstrate that a common assumption in behavioral economics experiments, that choices reveal motivations, will not necessarily hold.

scholarly journals Experimental Evidence on Transfer Pricing

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quoc H. Tran ◽  
Rachel T. A. Croson ◽  
Barry J. Seldon
Keyword(s):  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Optimal Transfer ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Economics Experiments ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
Transfer Prices ◽  
Partial Ownership ◽  
Tariff Rates ◽  
The Impact

Abstract We use incentivized economics experiments to test both the point predictions and comparative static predictions of optimal transfer pricing models, comparing behavior under varying conditions, including wholly versus partially-owned subsidiaries and different tariff and tax rates. As predicted, we find that transfer prices are responsive to relative tax and tariff rates as well as ownership proportions. Additionally, we examine convergence and learning in this setting. While individuals do not choose optimal transfer prices, their choices converge to optimal levels with experience. This paper thus makes two important contributions. First, by comparing behavior with theoretical predictions it provides evidence of whether (and when) individuals set transfer prices optimally. Second, by comparing behavior under conditions of full and partial ownership it provides evidence on the impact of policy interventions (like regulating ownership proportions by MNEs) on tax revenues.

scholarly journals The Power of Eye Tracking in Economics Experiments

2016 ◽  
Vol 106 (5) ◽  
pp. 309-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna N. Lahey ◽  
Douglas Oxley
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Data Management ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
Eye Tracker ◽  
Hiring Decisions ◽  
Economics Experiments ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Tracking Technology

Eye tracking is a technology that tracks eye activity including how long and where a participant is looking. As eye tracking technology has improved and become more affordable its use has expanded. We discuss how to design, implement, and analyze an experiment using this technology to study economic theory. Using our experience fielding an experiment to study hiring decisions we guide the reader through how to choose an eye tracker, concerns with participants and set-up, types of outputs, limitations of eye tracking, data management and data analysis. We conclude with suggestions for combining eye tracking with other measurements.

Becoming Just by Eliminating Injustice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart J. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Moral Sense ◽  
Economics Experiments ◽  
The Moment

This chapter explores how property emerges as a moral convention. Several laboratory experiments on property in its nascence are used to understand this process. A key feature of these economics experiments is that the participants can chat in real time with one another regarding their activities. These candid conversations in the heat of the moment make up the data by which I explain how anonymous strangers in a group become just by mutually respecting what is mine and what is thine. The dialogue also illustrates what it means for someone to be unjust, namely, inflicting real and positive harm on others. As a window into the minds of the participants, the language further supports Adam Smith’s claim that the resentment of harm undergirds our moral sense of property. We become just in terms of respecting the boundaries of property through the fellow feeling of the ill desert of harm.

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