Economics serving society

EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS - Empirical tools and methods to investigate economic behavior

June 17 to June 21, 2024

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This program is sponsored by PSE’s Opening Economics Chair.

For long, experiments have been seen as a specific domain within economics (“experimental economics”). The experimental method is now widely considered as a tool among others in the typical economist’s toolbox. Its use has shed light on many areas, on the theoretical side (decision theory, game theory, markets) as on the more applied and descriptive ones (policy, development, labor econ., IO, health econ., etc.). It has led to the blossoming of “behavioral economics”, but its general relevance goes much deeper than that. The purpose of this program is to provide young researchers with the methodological skills required to pursue experiments in their own research.

Ambitions:

The objective of the Experimental Economics program is to offer young scholars a crash course in empirical methods aimed at understanding economic behavior: how to design, implement and analyze an experiment so to answer a research question. The summer school is methodological in nature, although typical results from behavioral economics will be introduced as examples and illustrations on how protocols are designed to overcome observation/measurement/identification issues. Participants will be trained in the aim of being able to soundly rely on experiments in their future research projects.
The program is divided in four parts: a series of general lectures on experimental methodology, a series of specialized classes on specific methodological topics and workshop sessions where participants present, discuss and refine their experimental projects, with feedback from the school’s speakers.

Prerequisites:

A solid background in economics/microeconomics, basic knowledge of econometrics and statistics and a working command of English.

Main concepts/theories/software… learned during the program:

Experimental economics, experimental methods, psychometrics, neuroeconomics, field experiments

Skills acquired thanks to the program:

Experimental design, statistical analysis of experimental data, physiological measures

How will MA and PhD students benefit from this program:

Experimental methodologies are often not part of the standard curriculum, despite the generality of its benefits (applied/professional research; fundamental research). This course will provide a crash course in experimental methods aimed at understanding economic behavior, giving students the ability to soundly rely on experiments in their future research projects.

How will professionals benefit from this program?

Rigorous experimental methodologies are often overlooked in professional environments, despite their huge advantages in terms of evaluation. This program will allow you to design experiments that will give a robust assessment of the effect of an intervention on economic behavior.

Two modes of participation are offered for the 2024 Edition:

  • In person, taking into account the highest health measures to protect the participants and professors. On site, our parisian campus offers teaching and logistics space: classrooms, teaching theater, garden, coffee and lunch breaks facilities...
  • Online, proposing interactive lectures in real time and, beyond, online office hours with professors to facilitate interactions. PSE offers technologies and process that will ensure high quality communication for online participants, both with professors and with other participants.
  • For all the participants, full sets of lecture notes and presentations will be made available, as well as the recordings of the courses.
  • This program is equivalent to 3 ECTS credits, which PSE validates.

Contents – Experimental Economics: