Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-03T18:54:52.589Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Early History of Experimental Economics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2009

Alvin E. Roth
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In the course of coediting the Handbook of Experimental Economics (forthcoming) it became clear to me that contemporary experimental economists tend to carry around with them different and very partial accounts of the history of this still emerging field. This project began as an attempt to merge these “folk histories” of the origins of what I am confident will eventually be seen as an important chapter in the history and sociology of economics.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , Fall 1993 , pp. 184 - 209
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allais, Maurice. 1953. “Le Comportement de L'Homme Rationnel Devant le Risque: Critique des Postulats et Axiomes de L'Ecole Americane,” Econometrica, 21, 503–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, Gordon M. , DeGroot, Morris H., and Jacob, Marschak. 1963a. “An Experimental Study of Some Stochastic Models for Wagers,” Behavioral Science, 8, 199–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, Gordon M. , DeGroot, Morris H., and Marschak, Jacob. 1963b. “Probabilities of Choices Among Very Similar Objects: An Experiment to Decide Between Two Models,” Behavioral Science, 8, 306–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Becker, Gordon M. , DeGroot, Morris H., and Jacob, Marschak. 1964. “Measuring Utility by a Single-Response Sequential Method,” Behavioral Science, 9, 226–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Becker, Otwin. 1967. “Experimentelle Untersuchung der Erwartungsbildung fur eine Zeitreihe,” in Sauermann 1967, 226–54.Google Scholar
Bernoulli, Daniel. 1738. “Specimen Theoriae Novae de Mensura Sortis,” Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae, 5, 175–92.Google Scholar
English translation in Econometrica, 22, 1954, 23–36.Google Scholar
Bower, Joseph L. 1965. “The Role of Conflict in Economic Decision-Making Groups: Some Empirical Results,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 79, 263–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Camerer, Colin. Forthcoming. “Individual Decision Making,” in Kagel and Roth forthcoming.Google Scholar
Carlson, John A. and O'Keefe, Terrence B.. 1969. “Buffer Stocks and Reaction Coefficients: An Experiment with Decision Making under Risk,” Review of Economic Studies, 36, 467–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamberlin, Edward H. 1933. The Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Chamberlin, Edward H. 1948. “An Experimental Imperfect Market,” Journal of Political Economy, 56, no. 2, 95–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Contini, Bruno. 1968. “The Value of Time in Bargaining Negotiations: Some Experimental Evidence,” American Economic Review, 58, 374–93.Google Scholar
Coombs, C. H. and David, Beardslee. 1954. “On Decision-Making Under Uncertainty” in Thrall, et al. 1954, 255–85.Google Scholar
Cowles, John T. 1937. “Food-Tokens as Incentives for Learning by Chimpanzees,” Comparative Psychology Monographs, 14, 5, Williams and Wilkens, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Cummings, L. L. and Harnett, D. L.. 1969. “Bargaining Behaviour in a Symmetric Bargaining Triad: The Impact of Risk-Taking Propensity, Information, Communication and Terminal Bid,” Review of Economic Studies, 36, 485–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cyert, Richard M. and Lester B., Lave. 1965. “Collusion, Conflit et Science Economique,” Economie Appliquée, 18, 385–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cyert, Richard M., Simon, Herbert A., and Trow, Donald B.. 1956. “Observation of a Business Decision,” Journal of Business, 29, 237–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, Donald and Jacob, Marschak. 1959. “Experimental Tests of a Stochastic Decision Theory,” in Measurement: Definitions and Theories, edited by West Churchman, C. and Philburn, Ratoosh, Wiley, New York, 233–69.Google Scholar
Davidson, Donald and Patrick, Suppes, in collaboration with Sidney Siegel. 1957. Decision Making: An Experimental Approach, Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Dolbear, F. T., Lave, L. B., Bowman, G., Lieberman, A., Prescott, E., Rueter, F., and Sherman, R.. 1968. “Collusion in Oligopoly: An Experiment on the Effect of Numbers and Information,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 82, 240–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Ward. 1953a. “Experiments on Economic Decision-Making in Gambling Situations,” abstract, Econometrica, 21, 349–50.Google Scholar
Edwards, Ward. 1953b. “Probability-Preferences in Gambling,” American Journal of Psychology, 66, 349–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellsberg, Daniel. 1961. “Risk, Ambiguity and the Savage Axioms,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 75, 643–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estes, W.K. 1954. “Individual Behavior in Uncertain Situations: An Interpretation in Terms of Statistical Association Theory” in Thrall, et al. 1954, 127–37.Google Scholar
Ferber, Robert, and Hirsch, Werner Z.. 1982. Social Experimentation and Economic Policy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Flood, Merrill M. 1952. “Some Experimental Games,” Research Memorandum RM-789, RAND Corporation, June.Google Scholar
Flood, Merrill M. 1954a. “On Game-Learning Theory and some Decision-Making Experiments” in Thrall, et al. 1954, 139–58.Google Scholar
Flood, Merrill M. 1954b. “Environmental Non-Stationarity in a Sequential Decision-Making Experiment” in Thrall, et al. 1954, 287–99.Google Scholar
Flood, Merrill M.. 1958. “Some Experimental Games,” Management Science, 5, 5–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fouraker, Lawrence E., Martin, Shubik, and Sidney, Siegel. 1961. “Oligopoly Bargaining: The Quantity Adjuster Models” Research Bulletin 20, Pennsylvania State University, Department of Psychology.Google Scholar
Flood, Merrill M., Sidney, Siegel, and Harnett, Donald L.. 1962. “An Experimental Disposition of Alternative Bilateral Monopoly Models under Conditions of Price Leadership,” Operations Research, 10, 41–50.Google Scholar
Flood, Merrill M. and Sidney, Siegel. 1963. Bargaining Behavior, McGraw Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Friedman, James W. 1963. “Individual Behaviour in Oligopolistic Markets: An Experimental Study,” Yale Economic Essays, 3, 359–417.Google Scholar
Friedman, James W. 1969. “On Experimental Research in Oligopoly,” Review of Economic Studies, 36, 399–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, Milton and Savage, L. J.. 1948. “The Utility Analysis of Choices Involving Risk,” Journal of Political Economy, 56, 279–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, Paul J., Leon, Festinger, and Lawrence, Douglas H.. 1954. “Tendencies Toward Group Comparability in Competitive Bargaining,” in Thrall et al. 1954, 231–53.Google Scholar
Hoggatt, Austin C. 1959. “An Experimental Business Game,” Behavioral Science, 4, 192–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoggatt, Austin C. 1969. “Response of Paid Student Subjects to Differential Behaviour of Robots in Bifurcated Duopoly Games,” Review of Economic Studies, 36, 417–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoggatt, Austin C., Esherich, J. and Wheeler, J. T. 1969. “A Laboratory to Facilitate Computer-Controlled Behavioral Experiments,” Admininistrative Science Quarterly, 14, 202–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holt, Charles. Forthcoming. “Industrial Organization: A Survey of Laboratory Research,” in Kagel and Roth forthcoming.Google Scholar
Kagel, John. 1987. “Economics According to the Rats (and Pigeons Too): What Have We Learned and What Can We Hope to Learn?” in Roth 1987, 155–92.Google Scholar
Kagel, John. Forthcoming. “Auctions,” in Kagel and Roth forthcoming.Google Scholar
Kagel, John and Roth, Alvin E., eds. Forthcoming. Handbook of Experimental Economics, Princeton University Press, Princeton.Google Scholar
Kalisch, Gerhard K., Milnor, J. W., Nash, John F., and Nering, E.D.. 1954. “Some Experimental n-Person Games,” in Thrall et al. 1954, 301–27.Google Scholar
Lave, Lester B. 1962. “An Empirical Approach to the Prisoners' Dilemma Game,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 76, 424–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ledyard, John. Forthcoming. “Is There a Problem with Public Goods Provision?” in Kagel and Roth forthcoming.Google Scholar
Lieberman, Bernhardt. 1960. “Human Behavior in a Strictly Determined 3×3 Game,” Behavioral Science, 5, 317–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacCrimmon, K. R. and Toda, M.. 1969. “The Experimental Determination of Indifference Curves,” Review of Economic Studies, 36, 433–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markowitz, Harry. 1952. “The Utility of Wealth,” Journal of Political Economy, 60, 151–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maschler, Michael. 1965. “Playing an n-Person Game: An Experiment,” Econometric Research Program Memorandum No. 73, Princeton University, reprinted in Coalition Forming Behavior, Contributions to Experimental Economics, 8, edited by Sauermann, H., Tubingen, Mohr, 1978, 283–328.Google Scholar
May, Kenneth O. 1954. “Intransitivity, Utility, and the Aggregation of Preference Patterns,” Econometrica, 22, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minas, J., Sayer, Alvin, Scodel, David, Marlowe, and Harve, Rawson. 1960. “Some Descriptive Aspects of Two-Person Non Zero Sum Games II,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 4, 193–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgenstern, Oskar. 1954. “Experiment and Large Scale Computation in Economics,” in Economic Activity Analysis, edited by Morgenstern, O., Wiley, New York, 484–549.Google Scholar
Mosteller, F. and Nogee, P. 1951. “An Experimental Measurement of Utility,” Journal of Political Economy, 59, 371–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neumann, John von and Oskar, Morgenstern. 1944. Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, Princeton University Press, Princeton.Google Scholar
Ochs, Jack. Forthcoming. “Coordination Problems,” in Kagel and Roth forthcoming.Google Scholar
Preston, M.G. and Baratta, P.. 1948. “An Experimental Study of the Auction Value of an Uncertain Outcome,” American Journal of Psychology, 61, 183–93.Google ScholarPubMed
Raiffa, Howard. 1992. “Game Theory at the University of Michigan, 1948–1952,” in Toward a History of Game Theory, Annual Supplement to History of Political Economy, 24, Roy Weintraub, E., editor, Duke University Press, Durham, 165–75.Google Scholar
Rapoport, Amnon and Cole, Nancy S.. 1968. “Experimental Studies of Independent Mixed-Motive Games,” Behavioral Science, 13, 189–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rapoport, Anatol and Chammah, Albert M.. 1965. Prisoner's Dilemma: A Study in Conflict and Cooperation, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rapoport, Anatol , Guyer, Melvin J., and Gordon, David G.. 1976. The 2×2 Game, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Rapoport, Anatol and Carol, Orwant. 1962. “Experimental Games: A Review,” Behavioral Science, 7, 1–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rousseas, Stephen W. and Hart, Albert G.. 1951. “Experimental Verification of a Composite Indifference Map,” Journal of Political Economy, 59, 288–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roth, Alvin E., ed., 1987. Laboratory Experimentation in Economics: Six Points of View, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roth, Alvin E., ed., Forthcoming. “Bargaining Experiments,” in Kagel and Roth forthcoming.Google Scholar
Roth, Alvin E. and Marilda, Sotomayor. 1990. Two-Sided Matching: A Study in Game-Theoretic Modeling and Analysis, Econometric Society Monograph Series, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sauermann, Heinz, ed. 1967. Contributions to Experimental Economics (Beitrage zur Experimentellen Wirtschaftsforschung), 1, Tubingen, J. C. B. Mohr.Google Scholar
Sauermann, Heinz and Reinhard, Selten. 1959. “Ein Oligolpolexperiment,” Zeitschrift für die Gesamte Staatswissenschaft, 115, 427–71.Google Scholar
Sauermann, Heinz and Reinhard, Selten. 1960. “An Experiment in Oligopoly,” General Systems, Yearbook of the Society for General Systems Research, 5, 85–114.Google Scholar
Sauermann, Heinz and Reinhard, Selten. 1967a. Reprint of Heinz and Selten 1959.Google Scholar
Sauermann, Heinz and Reinhard, Selten. 1967b. “Zur Entwicklung der Experimentellen Wirtschaftsforschung,” in Sauermann 1967, 1–8.Google Scholar
Schelling, Thomas C. 1957. “Bargaining, Communication, and Limited War,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1, 19–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schelling, Thomas C. 1958. “The Strategy of Conflict: Prospectus for a Reorientation of Game Theory,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2, 203–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schelling, Thomas C. 1960. The Strategy of Conflict, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Scodel, Alvin , Sayer Minas, J. , Philburn, Ratoosh, and Milton, Lipetz. 1959. “Some Descriptive Aspects of Two-Person Non Zero Sum Games,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 3, 114–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selten, Reinhard. 1967. “Investitionsverhalten im Oligopolexperiment,” in Sauermann 1967, 60–102.Google Scholar
Selten, Reinhard. 1967b. “Ein Oligopolexperiment mit Preisvariation und Investition,” in Sauermann 1967, 103–35.Google Scholar
Selten, Reinhard. 1967c. “Die Strategiemethode zur Erforschung des eingeschrankt rationalen Verhaltens im Rahmen eines Oligopolexperimentes,” in Sauermann 1967, 136–68.Google Scholar
Sherman, Roger. 1969. “Risk Attitude and Cost Variability in a Capacity Choice Experiment,” Review of Economic Studies, 36, 453–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shubik, Martin. 1962. “Some Experimental Non-Zero-Sum Games with Lack of Information About the Rules,” Management Science, 8, 215–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shubik, Martin. 1975. The Uses and Methods of Gaming, Elsevier, New York (particularly Chapter 9: Experimental Gaming: A Literature Guide, 144–65).Google Scholar
Siegel, Sidney and Fouraker, Lawrence E.. 1960. Bargaining and Group Decision Making: Experiments in Bilateral Monopoly, McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Simon, Herbert A. 1956. “A Cmparison of Game Theory and Learning Theory,” Psychometrika, 21, 267–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, Herbert A. 1959. “Theories of Decision-Making in Economics and Behavioral Science,” American Economic Review, 49, 253–83.Google Scholar
Smith, Vernon L. 1962. “An Experimental Study of Competitive Market Behavior,” Journal of Political Economy, 70, 111–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Vernon L. 1964. “Effect of Market Organization on Competitive Equilibrium”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 78, 181–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, Jeremy J. 1958. “An Experiment in Bargaining Games,” Econometrica, 26, 286–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
StraffinPhilip D., Jr. Philip D., Jr. 1980. “The Prisoner's Dilemma,” UMAP Journal 1, 102–3.Google Scholar
Sunder, Shyam. Forthcoming. “Experimental Asset Markets: A Survey,” in Kagel and Roth forthcoming.Google Scholar
Teitz, Reinhard. 1967. “Simulation Eingeschrankt Rationaler Investitionsstrategien in Einer Dynamischen Oligopolsituation,” in Sauermann 1967, 169–225.Google Scholar
Teitz, Reinhard. 1983. Aspiration Levels in Bargaining and Economic Decision Making, Springer.Google Scholar
Thaler, Richard. 1987. “The Psychology of Choice and the Assumptions of Economics,” in Roth 1987, 99–130.Google Scholar
Thrall, R. M., Coombs, C. H., and Davis, R. L., eds. 1954. Decision Processes, Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Thurstone, L. L. 1931. “The Indifference Function,” Journal of Social Psychology, 2, 139–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tucker, A. W. 1950. “A Two-Person Dilemma,” mimeo, Stanford University; published under the heading “On Jargon: The Prisoner's Dilemma,” UMAP Journal, 1, 1980, 101.Google Scholar
Wallis, W. Allen and Milton, Friedman, 1942. “The Empirical Derivation of Indifference Functions,” in Studies in Mathematical Economics and Econometrics, edited by Lange, O., McIntyre, F., and Yntema, T. O., Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 175–89.Google Scholar
Weintraub, E. Roy, ed. 1992. Toward a History of Game Theory, Annual Supplement to History of Political Economy, 24, Duke University Press, Durham.Google Scholar
Willis, Richard H. and Joseph, Myron L.. 1959. “Bargaining Behavior I: ‘Prominence’ as a Predictor of the Outcomes of Games of Agreement,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 3, 102–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolfe, John B. 1936. “Effectiveness of Token-Rewards for Chimpanzees,” Comparative Psychology Monographs, 12, no. 5, Williams and Wilkens, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Yaari, Menahem E. 1965. “Convexity in the Theory of Choice Under Risk,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 79, 278–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar