2025/2026
Experimental Economics
Type:
Optional course (faculty)
Delivered by:
Department of Theoretical Economics
Where:
Faculty of Economic Sciences
When:
3 module
Open to:
students of one campus
Instructors:
James Christopher Ross Tremewan
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
3
Contact hours:
40
Course Syllabus
Abstract
This course in Experimental Economics introduces students to the design, implementation, and analysis of controlled experiments used to explore economic behavior. Students will learn how to test economic theories by creating incentives and observing real decision-making in areas such as markets, auctions, public goods, and bargaining. The course covers all the critical decisons involved in designing economic experiments, discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the experimental approach in relation to other methodologies for addressing economic questions, and gives an overview of major results in the field with a focus on behavioural game theory.
Learning Objectives
- Understand key concepts in experimental design.
- Understand strengths and weaknesses of experimental approaches to economic problems.
- Develop critical thinking skills in the context of reading experimental articles.
- Apply experimental methodology to real-world economic problems.
- Apply experimental methodology to test behavioural models.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Students understand reasons to use experimental methodology.
- Define external validity and explain its importance for generalizing experimental findings.
- Critique claims about policy relevance based on experimental results.
- Define different social preferences in economic terms and distinguish them from each other and related motives (e.g., social norms).
- Describe how social norms shape behavior in economic experiments.
- Design an experiment to measure the strength and content of social norms in a given setting.
- Explain the free-rider problem and its manifestation in public goods experiments.
- Describe the structure and equilibrium predictions of alternating-offer bargaining models (e.g., Rubinstein).
Course Contents
- Introduction
- Experimental design
- External validity
- The replication crisis
- Topics in experimental economics (social preferences, public goods games, bargaining, bounded rationality in games)
Interim Assessment
- 2025/2026 3rd module0.26 * Analysis of published paper + 0.24 * In class quizzes + 0.5 * Test
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- John H. Kagel, & Alvin E. Roth. (2016). The Handbook of Experimental Economics, Volume 2. Princeton University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.b.pup.pbooks.10874
- John H. Kagel, & Alvin E. Roth. (2020). The Handbook of Experimental Economics. Princeton University Press.
- The handbook of experimental economics, , 1995
- The handbook of experimental economics. Vol.2: ., , 2015
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Glenn Harrison. (2011). The methodological promise of experimental economics. Journal of Economic Methodology, (2), 183. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178X.2011.580135