Theory, Experimental Design, and Econometrics Are Complementary (And So Are Lab and Field Experiments)

This book confronts and debates the issues faced by the growing field of experimental economics. For example, as experimental work attempts to test theory, it raises questions about the proper relationship between theory and experiments. As experimental results are used to inform policy, the utility of these results outside the lab is questioned, and finally, as experimental economics tries to integrate ideas from other disciplines like psychology and neuroscience, the question of their proper place in the discipline of economics becomes less clear. The book is divided into four sections, each of which features a set of chapters and a set of comments on those chapters. The book offers a place where ideas about methodology could be discussed and even argued. Some of the chapters are contentious—a healthy sign of a dynamic discipline—while others lay out a vision for thought on how experimental economics should be pursued.