Experimental and Behavioral Economics
Tutorial
Sebastian Strasser
University of Munich
May 11, 2011
Objectives of this Class
What this class is NOT about:
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weekly exercises to be handed in or discussed
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parallel tracking of the lecture material
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RA’s solutions available online
What this class IS about:
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”Mini“ Second-year Ph.D. course
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a rough guide how to do experiments in economics
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platform of interaction for all course participants
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learn research techniques to conduct your own experimental
project
Strasser
Experimental and Behavioral Economics
Methods
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Interaction of all participants (including me!)
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Group work to be done in groups of 4-5
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Signing into a group is a commitment for doing the class
In a Nutshell..
A group should jointly set up, motivate, implement and analyze its
own experimental research project.
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Experimental and Behavioral Economics
Your Idea should be..
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.. good.
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.. new.
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.. relevant.
Strasser
Experimental and Behavioral Economics
Your Idea should be.. (Take II)
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.. from economics or at least related to economics.
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.. nothing that has already been done.
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.. an experimental setting (laboratory or field/natural
experiment).
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.. realistically implementable with a standard budget
But: Where to get good ideas from?
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Reading journal articles (i.e. from scientific work)
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Reading the newspaper (i.e. from daily life)
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Experimental and Behavioral Economics
Where to find papers
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RePEc/IDEAS: http://ideas.repec.org/
New Economics Papers: http://nep.repec.org/
SSRN: http://www.ssrn.com/ern/index.html
More specialized, e.g.:
I IZA: http://www.iza.org/
I CESifo: http://www.cesifo-group.de/
And, of course:
I Google Scholar, Researchers’ Webpages
I General Interest Journal Homepages (AER, QJE, ECMA, JPE,
ReStud; check forthcoming)
I Field Journals
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Games and Economic Behavior
Experimental Economics
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Journal of Economic Theory
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Experimental and Behavioral Economics
Elements of Assessment
The tutorial has three elements that cover 40 % of your grade in the
course. 60 % from the written exam on the lecture material.
1. Presentation
2. Mini-Paper
3. Instructions of Experiment
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Final grade on all three parts in total
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Roughly equal weight on all three parts
Strasser
Experimental and Behavioral Economics
Presentation
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elaborated in group
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end of June, beginning of July (see schedule later)
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40 min per group
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not exceed 25 minutes, leave 15 minutes for discussion
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possibility to adapt slides after presentation to include comments,
questions, etc.
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slides to be handed in at the end of the semester
Strasser
Experimental and Behavioral Economics
Content of the Presentation
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motivation of the research question
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related literature (brief, details in Mini-Paper)
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theoretic solution of the game/situation/interaction
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experimental design (detailed)
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hypotheses to be tested
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account of expected results (brief)
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expected amount of costs (one slide at max)
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Experimental and Behavioral Economics
Mini-Paper
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written text
should contain motivation and literature in detail
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relevance, motivating example, title, precise relation to literature,
etc.
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maximum of 4 pages text (strict)
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”Introduction“ to your paper in spe
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preferably to be written after your presentation
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to be handed in at the end of the semester
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Experimental and Behavioral Economics
Instructions
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as if you were to do your experiment tomorrow
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including all relevant information for the experimenter (e.g.
sequential distribution, pre-text, etc.)
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briefly comment on treatment adaptations
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to be handed in at the end of the semester
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adapted if you do a field/natural experiment
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Experimental and Behavioral Economics
Preliminary Plan of the Tutorial
11.05. Introduction, Organisation, Setting up Groups (12 - 2pm)
01.06. zTree Introduction, Group Work (12 - 4pm)
20.06. Presentations of Projects (3 groups, 4 - 6 pm)
22.06. Presentations of Projects (3 groups, 12 - 2 pm)
06.07. Presentations of Projects, Experiment in the lab (3 groups, 12 - 4
pm)
13.07. Statistics for Experiments, Introduction to Stata for Experiments
(12 - 4 pm)
20.07. Wrap-Up, Feedback, Handing in of Assessments (12 - 2 pm)
Subject to changes that will be communicated via mail
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Experimental and Behavioral Economics
Contact
Office: Giselastrasse 10, 3rd floor, room 314
Phone: 089-2180-9776
Mail: [email protected]
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Strasser
Experimental and Behavioral Economics