Economics Insights @ CBS

Laboratory experiments are an important methodology in economics, especially in the field of behavioral economics. However, it is still debated to what extent results from laboratory experiments are informative about behavior in field settings. One highly important question about the external validity of experiments is whether the same individuals act in experiments as they would in the field. This paper presents evidence on how individuals behave in donation experiments and how the same individuals behave in a naturally occurring decision situation on charitable giving.

We propose a framework for designing adaptive choice-based conjoint questionnaires that are robust to response error. It is developed based on a combination of experimental design and statistical learning theory principles. We implement and test a specific case of this framework using Regularization Networks. We also formalize within this framework the polyhedral methods recently proposed in marketing.

This is an experimental study of negative reciprocity in the case of multiple reciprocators. We use a three-player power-to-take game where a proposer is matched with two responders. We compare a treatment in which responders are anonymous to each other (strangers) with one in which responders know each other from outside the lab (friends). We focus on the responders' decisions, beliefs, and emotions.