Upload
aldous-obrien
View
216
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
A perfect classroom experiment Provides students with incentives to reveal their true economic behavior – A game with real, not hypothetical payoffs Can be conducted at a low (variable) cost: – Easy set up, transparent instructions – Doesn’t take up much class time, can be shortened or extended if needed – Hand run, doesn’t require special resources Versatile (lower average fixed cost): – Can be used in classes of different size and level with only slight modifications
Citation preview
Teaching Public Goods and Free Riding Using a Classroom Experiment
Victoria UmanskayaOccidental College
11th Annual Economics Teaching Conference
The costs of including classroom experiments in your lesson plans
– Fixed cost: the time used outside the classroom on developing games for multiple courses
–Variable cost: necessary resources and the time used inside the classroom
A perfect classroom experiment
• Provides students with incentives to reveal their true economic behavior– A game with real, not hypothetical payoffs
• Can be conducted at a low (variable) cost:– Easy set up, transparent instructions– Doesn’t take up much class time, can be shortened or
extended if needed– Hand run, doesn’t require special resources
• Versatile (lower average fixed cost): – Can be used in classes of different size and level with only
slight modifications
Public goods and free-riding: a classroom experiment
• Each of the players starts with 5 dollars (or points)• You can contribute any amount from 0 to 5 to the
“matching fund”: I will double the total contributions to this fund
• I will then divide the doubled amount equally among all the players regardless of their contribution or the lack thereof.
• Your payoff = Dollars left from the initial $5 + Your share of the “matching fund”
Public goods and free-riding: experiment instructions
• We’ll play several rounds. Every round is a new game so you start every round with the new endowment of $5.
• In each round, you’ll be asked to report your contribution to the matching fund. You can either respond at PollEv.com/vumanskaya or text VUMANSKAYA to 37607 once to join, then text in each round A for 5 points, B for 4 points, C for 3 points, D for 2 points, E for 1 point, F for 0 points.
Public goods and free-riding: experiment results
ROUND TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS YOUR SHARE OF MATCHING FUND
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Possible discussion points
• Free-riding and inefficient provision of public goods:– Did anyone start by contributing all 5 points? Why?– Did anyone start by contributing 0 points? Why?
• Possibility of cooperation and the repeated nature of the game
• The effect of the “provision points” on the level of contributions
Afterthoughts: real payoffs
• The next best thing after actual dollars are grades!
• Students play for bonus points added to their assignment or test scores.
Afterthoughts: versatility• ECON 101: play a single round, only discuss free-riding and under-
provision of public goods in a free market. Larger class, students play in groups.
• Environmental Economics: multiple rounds with changing settings; frame the discussion in terms of environmental quality. Smaller class, each students plays for him/herself.
• Intermediate Micro: repeated games, changing settings. Discuss the nature of public goods, Nash equilibrium, one shot vs. repeated game, trigger strategies.
• Public Economics, Game theory?
Afterthoughts: low costs
• No resources, the length of the game can be easily adjusted.
• To find total contributions in each round and record results (bonus points):– ECON 101: fewer players (groups), one round use
white boards, take pictures to record each group’s contribution
– Upper-division classes: more players, multiple rounds use PollEverywhere and record sheet if using a free version