Cluster Hiring Initiative

Experimental Social Science

While relatively new to the social sciences, controlled experiments are increasingly being used in the research of economics, political science, anthropology, neuroscience and accounting, as well as other disciplines. In economics, for example, experiments can be designed to better understand how markets function; in political science, they can be used to test theories about how a congressional committee comes to a particular decision.

Data taken from experiments intended to help understand price dynamics in UK spectrum auctions compared with the data from the actual auction (that raised over $30 billion). Both lab and field data exhibit similar patterns. More

Data from experiment in which subjects vote on tax rate used to redistribute earnings made in the experiment. The dots are color coded based on how liberal or conservative the subject professed to be. In the context of this experiment we see subjects voting for tax rates more according to self interest in the experiment than self professed ideology. More

Social science researchers conduct such experiments by creating laboratory scale markets or other decision groups. These institutions are often similar to naturally occurring settings, like bidding in online auctions or voting in a committee. Payoffs are used to induce the participants to have similar incentives or motivations as those in the naturally occurring institutions.

Florida State University recognized the potential of social science experimentation early on, especially in economics and political science. Our researchers have investigated a broad range of issues including how different rules used in government auctions for electromagnetic broadcast spectrum affect the revenue the government receives; how individuals' ideological predispositions affect their support for redistributive taxes; different ways that charities might organize fund-raising auctions; and what effects there might be when a voluntary club or religious denomination attempts to make it difficult for people to leave. Through such research, FSU has achieved a prominent position in the field of experimental social science. These FSU researchers are well positioned to extend this methodology to other disciplines, including business, law, philosophy and psychology.

One goal of the experimental social science cluster, therefore, is to expand the number of researchers with skills in this leading-edge methodology, so it can be applied to a wider range of issues and theories—particularly those that are difficult to analyze with more traditional empirical approaches. Maximizing these synergistic benefits across the university will not only elevate FSU's prominence with this type of research, but will lure distinguished faculty who employ it at other top universities.

Faculty

Mark Isaac
John Scholz
Charles Barrilleaux
Tim Salmon
T. K. Ahn
Svetlana Pevnitskaya