John List discusses value of field experiments in economics
July 15, 2008
John List, Professor in Economics, discusses the role of field experiments in studying economics in the July 11 issue of Science. His observations are included in an article "ECONOMICS: Homo experimentalis Evolve" published in the journal's Perspectives section. He writes:
"In economics, laboratory experiments have been used to meaningfully test theories, lend important qualitative insights, and provide a first glimpse at what can happen in an economic system. To complement lab and naturally occurring economic data, studies that gather data via field experiments have become more frequent during the past decade. Such experiments are a useful marriage between laboratory and naturally occurring data in that they represent a mixture of control and realism usually not achieved in the lab or with naturally occurring data."
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