- Title Pages
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Series Introduction
- Introduction
-
1 Is Experimental Economics Living Up to Its Promise? -
2 The Relationship Between Economic Theory and Experiments -
3 On the Relationship Between Economic Theory and Experiments -
4 Enhanced Choice Experiments -
5 Intelligent Design: The Relationship Between Economic Theory and Experiments: Treatment-driven Experiments -
6 The Interplay Between Theory and Experiments -
7 Maxims for Experimenters -
8 What is an Economic Theory That Can Inform Experiments? -
9 The 1-800 Critique, Counterexamples, and the Future of Behavioral Economics -
10 A General Model for Experimental Inquiry in Economics and Social Psychology -
11 Psychology and Economics: Areas of Convergence and Difference -
12 The Hammer and the Screwdriver -
13 Discussion of “ Psychology and Economics: Areas of Convergence and Difference” -
Reprint: What Do Laboratory Experiments Measuring Social Preferences Reveal About the Real World? -
14 The Promise and Success of Lab–Field Generalizability in Experimental Economics: A Critical Reply to Levitt and List -
15 Theory, Experimental Design, and Econometrics Are Complementary (And So Are Lab and Field Experiments) -
16 Laboratory Experiments: The Lab in Relationship to Field Experiments, Field Data, and Economic Theory -
17 Laboratory Experiments: Professionals Versus Students -
18 The External Validity of Laboratory Experiments: The Misleading Emphasis on Quantitative Effects -
19 The Lab and the Field: Empirical and Experimental Economics -
20 On the Generalizability of Experimental Results in Economics - Index
The Relationship Between Economic Theory and Experiments
The Relationship Between Economic Theory and Experiments
- Chapter:
- (p.43) 2 The Relationship Between Economic Theory and Experiments
- Source:
- Handbook of Experimental Economic Methodology
- Author(s):
David K. Levine
Jie Zheng
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This chapter explores the relationship between economic theory and experimental evidence. It suggests that the impression that economic theory has little or no significance for explaining experimental results is misleading. Economic theory makes strong predictions about many situations and is generally quite accurate in predicting behavior in the laboratory. In situations where the theory is thought to fail, the failure is in the application of theory rather than the theory failing to explain the evidence.
Keywords: economic theory, experimental evidence, experimental economics, application of theory
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- Title Pages
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Series Introduction
- Introduction
-
1 Is Experimental Economics Living Up to Its Promise? -
2 The Relationship Between Economic Theory and Experiments -
3 On the Relationship Between Economic Theory and Experiments -
4 Enhanced Choice Experiments -
5 Intelligent Design: The Relationship Between Economic Theory and Experiments: Treatment-driven Experiments -
6 The Interplay Between Theory and Experiments -
7 Maxims for Experimenters -
8 What is an Economic Theory That Can Inform Experiments? -
9 The 1-800 Critique, Counterexamples, and the Future of Behavioral Economics -
10 A General Model for Experimental Inquiry in Economics and Social Psychology -
11 Psychology and Economics: Areas of Convergence and Difference -
12 The Hammer and the Screwdriver -
13 Discussion of “ Psychology and Economics: Areas of Convergence and Difference” -
Reprint: What Do Laboratory Experiments Measuring Social Preferences Reveal About the Real World? -
14 The Promise and Success of Lab–Field Generalizability in Experimental Economics: A Critical Reply to Levitt and List -
15 Theory, Experimental Design, and Econometrics Are Complementary (And So Are Lab and Field Experiments) -
16 Laboratory Experiments: The Lab in Relationship to Field Experiments, Field Data, and Economic Theory -
17 Laboratory Experiments: Professionals Versus Students -
18 The External Validity of Laboratory Experiments: The Misleading Emphasis on Quantitative Effects -
19 The Lab and the Field: Empirical and Experimental Economics -
20 On the Generalizability of Experimental Results in Economics - Index