WISE美籍教授Jason Shachat，将在2009-2010年春季学期为WISE学生开讲《实验经济学与金融学》（Experimental Economics & Finance）。
Jason Shachat系亚利桑那大学博士，曾供职于加州大学圣地亚哥校区、新加坡管理大学，现为WISE经济学教授。其研究方向为实验经济学和博弈论，曾在《Journal of Mathematical Psychology》、《Decision Analysis》、《Mathematical Methods of Operations Research》、《Journal of Economic Theory》、《Games and Economic Behavior》等多种国际顶尖期刊发表过多篇论文。
《实验经济学与金融学》将为学生介绍经济学实验该如何创建和控制的标准框架，目的是拓展学生用钻研的态度阅读文献的技巧和能力，并从研究中衍生出新的课题，从而将其落实执行成新的实证性研究项目。课程将在经济楼多媒体实验机房利用数据平台展开教学，主题涵盖：不同市场机制和市场环境下的市场有效性和竞争性研究；金融市场的合理预期、有效市场假说、信息聚集、市场泡沫、资产定价模型和微观市场架构理论；不确定性下的决策制定；包括合作、可选择解决方案的概念评估、混合策略的使用、动态博弈等在内的博弈论；以及产业组织、劳动经济学、拍卖理论和微观计量经济学模型等多个内容。
该课程计划围绕专题，每周以讲座、试验、小组讨论等多种形式进行，其经过系统设计的每个组成部分都会对学生学习能力的提高具有明显作用，例如：通过对理论性和实验性论文的反复研读，学生可以将其融合到进行经济实验的过程中，从而实现在经济实验中的深入参与和提高再创造的能力。而这些过程的训练都将为学生提高对实验设计的洞察力，对实验进行的导向把握、对实验进程条件控制的准确掌握、延伸对研究结果认识具有重要意义。
（WISE 张文婷）
附录：《实验经济学与金融学》（Experimental Economics & Finance）课程介绍
Over the last three decades, few areas in economics have seen the advances, growth, and impact as experienced by experimental economics. During this time period research using controlled experiments has contributed greatly into our understanding of financial markets, the impact of contracts and incentives on people’s actions, the effect market structures has on firm and consumer welfare, how individuals form preferences in uncertain outcomes, the behavioral norms of unselfish behavior in group interactions, the valuation of environmental and public goods, and of many other problems. Specifically, through the use of experiments economists have learned asset bubbles result not from a lack of knowledge about the fundamental value assets, but rather a lack of common knowledge or expectation about prices. Also, we have learned that informal institutional relationships naturally evolve that mitigate the free rider problem in managing common pool resources. We have also discovered the counter intuitive feature that markets function more efficiently the less information we have about others rather than more.
Over this time period the use of experimental economics in research has grown from a small set of researchers to the point in which most leading universities employ experimental economic researchers and host experimental economics research facilities. In addition to the increasing frequency of number of papers using experimental methodologies appearing in leading academic journals and policy investigations sponsored by government and other public interest groups a large number of Nobel Laureates use controlled experiments in their research: Reinhard Selten (1994), Daniel McFadden (2000), Vernon L. Smith (2002, and the father of Experimental Economics), Daniel Kahneman (2002, and a father of Behavioral Economics), and Elinor Ostrom (2009).
An economics experiment often strives to mirror the ideal of experiments in the natural sciences. Namely, test a theory or conjecture by controlling as many of the maintained assumptions as possible and then conducting an empirical test. For example we will test theories of gravitational attraction by dropping objects in a tunnel; thus controlling for confounding variable like wind resistance. In economics, many of our most powerful models and theories involve assumptions or maintained hypothesis regarding factors that are inherently unknown or unobserved. For example, to empirically test the most basic model of competitive equilibrium in markets we need to estimate, or assume, the costs of firms and the tastes and preferences of consumers. These data are inherently private and unobservable, and often in principle impossible to estimate with accuracy. Further consider hypothesis that asset market are efficient. To test this hypothesis we need to know the true distribution of dividends of all assets. In an economics experiment, we can control such factors through techniques of induced values and beliefs. In effect, the power of an experimental study is render the unobservable observed and then apply treatments that allow for the most informative tests of comparative statics. It is the insights gained through this controlled examination that has led to the many advances garnered by experimental economic studies and why knowledge of these tools is important for economic and finance researchers today.
The course objective is to develop the knowledge and skills to critically read the literature and form new research questions, and to also develop and execute and experimental research project. To these ends we will introduce the standard framework of how to create and control an economics experiment. Then we will present surveys and applications of experimental studies in a wide area of topics: market efficiency and competitiveness under different market institutions and environments; rational expectations, the efficient market hypothesis, information aggregation, market bubbles, asset pricing models, and micro market structures theories of financial markets; decision making under uncertainty; game theory including coordination, the evaluation of alternative solution concepts, the use of mixed strategies, and dynamic games; industrial organization, auctions, labor economics, and macroeconomic models.
There will also be a significant learning by doing component. Alongside, the reading of the theoretical and empirical papers, we will also recreated and participate in the accompanying economic experiments. This activity should be used to gain insight into the experimental design, provide guidance in how to conduct experiments, provide new perspectives on the results of the research, and to teach the standard protocols of good experimental procedures. Typically there will be on topic per week which involves a lecture, an experiment, and a seminar style group discussion. Students will be expected to actively participate in each of these activities.
