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HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY John A. List , a Chicago economist and early innovator of field experiments in economics, views field experiments as providing the necessary bridge between laboratory experiments (see Vernon Smith ) and naturally-occurring data. In this light, field experiments provide an exciting way to test economic theories, speak to policymakers, and find general facts. Moreover, this view highlights that field experiments can be used as a major methodological tool; determining whether laboratory behavior is a good indicator of behavior in the field, and whether behavioral anomalies are attenuated with market experience represent but a few examples. Michael Kremer , a development economist and major practitioner of field experiments, argues that an analogy should be drawn between government's role in overseeing pharmaceuticals and overseeing social programs. More specifically, randomized trials of new drugs are required before the FDA approves them for sale. Similarly, perhaps randomized trials of candidate social programs should be required before such programs are implemented. In both cases, the randomized trials allow careful measurement of the innovation's actual effect ''before'' the innovation is rolled-out to the whole population. Besides these two prolific experimenters, there were earlier pioneers who did field experiments and produced other sorts of data. Charles Plott and Michael Levine did perhaps the first theoretically-motivated field experiment in political economy in 1978, to see whether altering the agenda of an airplane flying club's purchases could affect the outcome (it did). David Lucking-Reiley did an important study using internet trading of Magic cards in the mid-1990's (published 1999). Colin Camerer did an experimental test of whether cascades could be created at a racetrack betting market in 1998. The field began to boom when List, Kremer, Dean Karlan, and anthropologists such as Rob Boyd, Joe Henrich and Jean Ensminger, began doing experiments around 2000. APPLICATIONS Recent work by Glenn W. Harrison (University of Central Florida) and John A. List (University of Chicago) has established a taxonomy of field experiments. See their paper in the December 2004 issue of the ''Journal of Economic Literature'' for a complete treatment or List's website ( {Link without Title} ) for a quicker overview. Their taxonomy usefully partitions field experiments into three categories ranging from those that most closely resemble traditional laboratory experiments to those that are truly "Natural" field experiments in the sense that the subjects involved are unaware of any treatment taking place. (Note that artificial experiments in social psychology often use deception, so that subjects are also unaware of the true treatment). See the website for many useful applications of the field experiment method ranging from the analysis of public good contributions and charitable giving to market anomalies and analyses of discrimination. METHODOLOGY Compared with Laboratory Experiments Compared with Natural Experiments Compared with Non-Experimental Field Data CAVEATS
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