Good Times

Experiment files:

Powerpoint instructions for "Self-Correcting Information Cascades": slides only, or slides with voice-over (zipped, 30Mb; Extract to a folder before viewing.)

Practical issues with experiments:

Recent technological advances make running laboratory experiments feasible with very little physical and financial overhead. For instance, a "laboratory" can consist of a number of laptop machines using wireless intranet communication. Such a setup has the advantages of being relatively inexpensive and extremely portable. For these reasons, researchers are beginning to employ such a design with success. One implication for experimental economists is increased flexibility, in the sense that their institutions do not need to have long term financial commitments to experimental economics in order to provide adequate research environments. A portable laboratory also opens the door to studying a much broader range of subject pools, since the lab can travel to the subjects, rather than the reverse. Another factor easing the practice of experimennal economics is that reliable and transferable software is quickly being developed and made freely available to other researchers. This is important, since software development can be the single most expensive ingredient in running a successful experimental research program.