Experimental Economics in the Classroom
Charles A. Holt and Tanga McDaniel

Classroom  experiments  are  short,  interactive  exercises  designed  to  facilitate  under-
standing of key economic ideas. For example, students can be allowed to negotiate trades in a
market where it  is possible to compare their behavior with equilibrium predictions. In this
manner, their first exposure to a particular economic concept is experiencing the economic
incentives and forces first hand. In effect, they are producing the data that (with luck and
carefully structured discussion) can allow them to discover relevant economic principles for
themselves. We have found that this "bottom-up" participatory approach to learning can raise
student interest and motivation. We believe that effective experiments can induce learning at a
deeper level that results from being convinced about the usefulness of an otherwise abstract
economic theory.