MPH_AEXE Experimental Economics

Faculty of Economics and Administration
Autumn 2010
Extent and Intensity
2/1. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Peter Katuščák (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Ing. Petr Smutný, Ph.D.
Department of Business Management – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Contact Person: Mgr. Jana Nesvadbová
Timetable
Thu 21. 10. 8:30–11:00 VT105, 12:00–16:15 S307, Fri 22. 10. 8:30–11:00 VT105, 12:00–16:15 S305, Thu 4. 11. 8:30–11:00 VT105, 12:00–16:15 S307, Fri 5. 11. 8:30–11:00 VT105, 12:00–16:15 S305, Thu 25. 11. 8:30–11:00 VT105, 12:00–16:15 S307, Fri 26. 11. 8:30–11:00 VT105, 12:00–16:15 S305
Prerequisites
Good knowledge of English is expected.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
Course objectives
This is a graduate-level topics course in Experimental Economics. The aim is to expose students to multiple potential research topics and related literature. Hands-on participation in in-class experiments will be an integral part of the course. Basic background in microeconomic theory and game theory is assumed.
Syllabus
  • Outline of the course: topics and hands-on experiments covered during a particular day (the respective readings are detailed below) Day 1 (Oct. 21): o Introduction, history and methodology o Preference elicitation  Probability elicitation  Risk aversion elicitation o Altruism and fairness  Dictator game  Ultimatum game Day 2 (Oct. 22): o Fairness, trust and contracting  Two-stage bargaining game  Trust game  Reciprocity game  Principal-agent game Day 3 (Nov. 4): o Cooperation  Prisoners‘ Dilemma o Coordination  Battle of the Sexes  Minimum effort game o Guessing  Guessing (beauty contest) game Day 4 (Nov. 5): o Public goods  Voluntary contributions game  Voluntary contributions with punishments  Alternative coordination devices  Provision-point mechanism Day 5 (Nov. 25): o Auctions  Independent private values: English, Dutch, first-price sealed-bid and second-price sealed-bid auctions  Common values: first-price sealed-bid Day 6 (Nov. 26): o Financial markets  Multi-unit double-auction  Stock-market as a double auction, bubbles  Alternative approaches  Prediction market
Teaching methods
The course will be predominantly be based on book chapters and articles and students are expected to read the assigned articles before each class. Below is an extended reading list, and we will only cover a selected subset of papers from it (denoted by asterisk). The list serves as source for further reading in the respective areas. We will also often be referring to the following two textbooks: Textbooks: Class readings will be based on two textbooks and on individual articles. The two textbooks are: Friedman, Daniel and Alessandra Cassar, Economics Lab: an Intensive Course in Experimental Economics, Routledge, 2004. Holt, Charles A., Markets, Games, and Strategic Behavior, Pearson-Adison Wesley, 2007. Other good reference readings are Camerer, Colin, Behavioral Game Theory, New York, Russell Sage & Princeton University Press, 2003. John Kagel and Alvin Roth, Handbook of Experimental Economics, Princeton, 1995. Vernon L. Smith, Rationality in Economics, Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Assessment methods
Grading: Students will be graded based on individual term papers to be submitted by noon, Dec. 20, 2010 by email to Peter.Katuscak@cerge-ei.cz. In this paper, a student should outline a research question to be addressed by experimental economic methods, review the literature, propose a detailed experimental design, outline hypotheses to be tested and discuss how these hypotheses will be tested.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2010, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/econ/autumn2010/MPH_AEXE