Laboratory Experiments in Teaching Public Economics and Policy

Using Laboratory Experiments in Public Economics

129 National Tax Journal Vol. LX, No. 1 March 2007 Abstract Laboratory experiments have proven increasingly useful in all areas of economics. This paper discusses the methodology of experimental economics, highlights its strengths and weaknesses, discusses many of the applications of experimental methods to public economics, and suggests topics in which future applications may also prove useful.

Teaching Economics with Classroom Experiments

Classroom experiments are effective because students are placed directly into the economic environments being studied. This paper surveys some diverse applications, e.g. speculation and multiple markets, coordination games, voting and agendas, and a simple macroeconomy, with particular attention to practical details. After participating, students bring first-hand experience to the discussion, w...

Evaluating replicability of laboratory experiments in economics.

The replicability of some scientific findings has recently been called into question. To contribute data about replicability in economics, we replicated 18 studies published in the American Economic Review and the Quarterly Journal of Economics between 2011 and 2014. All of these replications followed predefined analysis plans that were made publicly available beforehand, and they all have a st...

Using Laboratory Experiments to Teach Introductory Economics

Psychology , Behavioral Economics , and Public Policy

Economics has typically been the social science of choice to inform public policy and policymakers. In the current paper we contemplate the role behavioral science can play in enlightening policymakers. In particular, we provide some examples of research that has and can be used to inform policy, reflect on the kind of behavioral science that is important for policy, and approaches for convinci...