Behavioral Science: Theory and Application of Experimental Methods

Permits offered to non-MBDS students if space is available. Request a permit here: www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/mbds/permit-request. Our understanding of different mechanisms and (economic) relationships is hampered by a lack of data and - more often than not - either the observation or the data is not reliable. In recent decades, through the work of pioneers in the behavioral and experimental economics fields, such as Daniel Kahneman and Vernon Smith, economics experiments have become a vital part of the scientific discourse, facilitating our understanding of the world we live in (much like in biology, chemistry, physics, etc.). In this course, we will explore economic behavior by developing a research idea, designing an experiement, then carrying out the experiment under controlled conditions. Essentially, you will learn how to think about ideas, generate ideas, and use economic experiments to test them.