August 22-26, 2022, University of Amsterdam Roeterseiland campus, Amsterdam
In this five-day course we discuss the experimental approach to studying the effects of communication in economic decision making.
Faculty
Arthur Schram is a Tinbergen Institute research fellow and professor of experimental economics at the Amsterdam School of Economics of the University of Amsterdam and parttime professor of Economics at European University Institute.
Jeroen van de Ven is a Tinbergen Institute research fellow and a professor of economics at the University of Amsterdam. His research interests include Applied Microeconomics, Behavioral Economics, Experimental Economics,
Meet the lecturers.
Course
It is hard to imagine a world without communication. People rely on communication to share knowledge, coordinate actions, and persuade others. In this way, communication can increase the efficiency of economic transactions. But communication can also be used to mislead others and lower trust. In this way, it may be harmful to efficient economic interactions. This makes it important to know how good people are at convincing others or catching lies. Over the past decade, much progress has been made in understanding the various ways that communication may affect economic behavior. Much of this increased knowledge can be attributed to the use of experimental methods.
In this summer school, we discuss the experimental approach to studying the effects of communication in economic decision making. We review the state-of-the-art experimental research. Experts in the field will cover topics such as fake news, cheap talk, coordination problems, deception, lie-detection, and persuasion. We also discuss the use of different methods, including laboratory and field experiments, chat, and text analysis. This is, however, primarily a hands-on course. In small teams, you will design and run your own experiment on communication and present the results.
Schedule
Monday
09:30 – 10:00 Welcome
10:00 – 12:00 Experimental Methodology (Arthur Schram)
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 16:30 Studying communication in experiments (Jeroen van de Ven)
16:45 – 18:00 Demonstration experiment
Tuesday
09:30 – 12:00 Coordination and Cooperation (Arthur Schram)
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 16:30 Deception and Lie detection (Jeroen van de Ven)
16:45 – 18:00 Design your own (pencil and paper) experiment
Wednesday
09:00 – 12:30 Strategic Communication (Jeroen van de Ven)
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 16:00 Statistical Analysis of Experimental Data (Arthur Schram)
16:15 – 18:00 Design your own experiment
Thursday
09:00 – 12:30 Running your experiment
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 18:00 Running your experiment
Friday
10:00 – 12:30 Presentations of results
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 16:00 Presentations of results
16:00 – 17:30 Concluding remarks
Level
Introductory/Intermediate. The course is aimed at students/researchers who are interested in experimental economics and are new to the field of communication.
Target group
(research) master students, PhD students, post-docs with a background in economics.
If you plan to do research in the field of communication, we will help you on your way by giving an overview and discussion of the current methods, provide advice, and give practical tips on the implementation of communication in your study. This will help you in avoiding pitfalls. If you have a more general interest in the field, this course helps you to find out about current research and interpret the findings.
Admission requirements
Knowledge of basic game theoretical concepts is advised.
Preparation
This course starts at the introductory level and quickly builds up to participants designing and running an experiment. No preparation is required.
