Informed consent in social science.

IN HIS PERSPECTIVE “HOMO EXPERIMENTALIS EVOLVES” (11 JULY, P. 207), J. A. LIST PROUDLY acknowledges that economists perform experiments on human subjects without notifying them: “[I]n a natural f ield experiment, the analyst manipulates experimental conditions in a natural manner, whereby the experimental subjects are unaware that they are participating in an experiment. This approach combines the most attractive elements of the laboratory and of naturally occurring data: randomization and realism.” I know that psychologists tend to do the same thing. Yet this practice leads me to ask: Where has “informed consent” gone? PIERRE COUTURE