Researchers from the CRESE have created an experimental laboratory to conduct economic experiments in the facilities of the University of Besançon. The goal of those experiments is to observe the behavior of participants in particular environments. Those behaviors are directly compared to the economic theory and contribute to the research in economics. Researchers use economic experiments to answer a large variety of questions, such as:
What are the most efficient incentives systems?
How can we foster team cooperation?
How to improve a market design ?
How do individuals behave when facing risky decisions?
What are the determinants of benevolent actions?
Is decision-making rational?
Does a group take decision in the same fashion as an individual does?
Experimental sessions follow a perfectly defined protocol, to ensure that it can be reproduced by any other researcher in the world. Participants sit in isolated compartments, so that they cannot influence one another.
Researchers run experiment in the lab to make sure that they control all relevant parameters. It is then straightforward to vary one parameter at a time, to isolate properly its impact on participants’ behavior.
Participants receive earnings based on their decisions and the decisions of the individuals with whom they interact. At the end of a session (which can last between one and two hours), participants leave the experimental lab with an amount of money (on average €20) in cash.
Individuals who are willing to register as participant to the economic experiments organized by the CRESE are invited to fill the form available at this address
