Economics from an Experimental Perspective

This program is currently at capacity during the Extended and Rolling deadlines. If you select this course as a first choice on your application, please apply for a second option that fulfills your interests.

A growing field in which the University of Chicago has been a leader, experimental economics uses experimental methods – observing everyday interactions and decisions made by people either in the lab or in the field – to explore economic questions ranging from how markets and other exchange systems work to what motivates people to make decisions about matters such as conserving environmental resources or donating to charitable causes. Students will participate in laboratory experiments and discuss the results, thereby learning the underlying economic principles and the economic questions that the experiments were designed to address. They will also engage in solving specific economic problems both individually and in a group.