Diversity of Experimental Methods in Economics

Description

This is the first book that examines the diverse range of experimental methods currently being used in the social sciences, gathering contributions by working economists engaged in experimentation, as well as by a political scientist, psychologists and philosophers of the social sciences. Until the mid-twentieth century, most economists believed that experiments in the economic sciences were impossible. But that’s hardly the case today, as evinced by the fact that Vernon Smith, an experimental economist, and Daniel Kahneman, a behavioral economist, won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002. However, the current use of experimental methods in economics is more diverse than is usually assumed. As the concept of experimentation underwent considerable abstraction throughout the twentieth century, the areas of the social sciences in which experiments are applied are expanding, creating renewed interest in, and multifaceted debates on, the way experimental methods are used. This book sheds new light on the diversity of experimental methodologies used in the social sciences. The topics covered include historical insights into the evolution of experimental methods; the necessary “performativity” of experiments, i.e., the dynamic interaction with the social contexts in which they are embedded; the application of causal inferences in the social sciences; a comparison of laboratory, field, and natural experiments; and the recent use of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in development economics. Several chapters also deal with the latest heated debates, such as those concerning the use of the random lottery method in laboratory experiments. Front Matter ....Pages i-vi Diversity of Experimental Methods in Economics: An Introduction (Toshiji Kawagoe, Hirokazu Takizawa)....Pages 1-19 Front Matter ....Pages 21-21 Laboratory Experiments in Game Theory (Takizawa Hirokazu)....Pages 23-37 The Field Experiment Revolution in Development Economics (Yasuyuki Sawada, Takeshi Aida)....Pages 39-60 Experimental Research in Political Science (Naoko Taniguchi)....Pages 61-78 Experiments in Psychology: Current Issues in Irrational Choice Behavior (Takeharu Igaki, Paul Romanowich, Takayuki Sakagami)....Pages 79-115 Evolutionary Psychology and Economic Game Experiments (Yohsuke Ohtsubo, Hiroki Tanaka)....Pages 117-144 Front Matter ....Pages 145-145 Reconsidering Induced Value Theory (Toshiji Kawagoe)....Pages 147-162 Billions of Dollars Worth of Experiments: Calibrating Clinical Trial Investments (Yusuke Narita)....Pages 163-175 New Wine into Old Wineskins? Methodenstreit, Agency, and Structure in the Philosophy of Experimental Economics (Ivan Boldyrev)....Pages 177-183 Creating Social Ontology: On the Performative Nature of Economic Experiments (Carsten Herrmann-Pillath)....Pages 185-203