Content of the course. The proposed course is an introduction to the theory and practice of experimental economics. The first part of the lecture will be rather theoretical. It will aim at explaining i) what sort of knowledge social scientists can collect in the laboratory, and ii) what experi- ments can tell us about economic theories. Particular emphasis will be given to the experimental economists’ main activities, i.e. “speaking to theorists” and “searching for facts”. The second part of the lecture will be more applied. It will examine the specific methods and techniques for conducting economic experiments, focusing on some basic rules for actually reaching control in experiments. The ultimate goal is to run a series of economic experiments. You are expected to design and conduct an experiment in order to answer a sharp and interesting research question.
