Diversity of Experimental Methods in Economics
by Toshiji Kawagoe (Editor), Hirokazu Takizawa (Editor)

About the Author
Toshiji Kawagoe, Future University Hakodate
Hirokazu Takizawa, Chuo University

About this book
This is the first book that examines the diverse range of experimental methods currently being used in the social sciences, gathering contributions by working economists engaged in experimentation, as well as by a political scientist, psychologists and philosophers of the social sciences. Until the mid-twentieth century, most economists believed that experiments in the economic sciences were impossible. But that’s hardly the case today, as evinced by the fact that Vernon Smith, an experimental economist, and Daniel Kahneman, a behavioral economist, won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002.
However, the current use of experimental methods in economics is more diverse than is usually assumed. As the concept of experimentation underwent considerable abstraction throughout the twentieth century, the areas of the social sciences in which experiments are applied are expanding, creating renewed interest in, and multifaceted debates on, the way experimental methods are used.
This book sheds new light on the diversity of experimental methodologies used in the social sciences. The topics covered include historical insights into the evolution of experimental methods; the necessary “performativity” of experiments, i.e., the dynamic interaction with the social contexts in which they are embedded; the application of causal inferences in the social sciences; a comparison of laboratory, field, and natural experiments; and the recent use of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in development economics. Several chapters also deal with the latest heated debates, such as those concerning the use of the random lottery method in laboratory experiments.

Brief contents
Part I. Diversity in Experimental Methods

• Laboratory Experiments in Game Theory
• The Field Experiment Revolution in Development Economics
• Experimental Research in Political Science
• Experiments in Psychology: Current Issues in Irrational Choice Behavior
• Evolutionary Psychology and Economic Game Experiments
  

Part II. Critical Viewpoints

• Reconsidering Induced Value Theory
• Billions of Dollars Worth of Experiments: Calibrating Clinical Trial Investments
• New Wine into Old Wineskins? Methodenstreit, Agency, and Structure in the Philosophy of Experimental Economics
• Creating Social Ontology: On the Performative Nature of Economic Experiments
  

Length: 203 pages
Publisher: Springer; 1st ed. 2019 edition (February 10, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9811360642
ISBN-13: 978-9811360640

PDF version


EPUB version