73/88-110 Experiments with Economic Principles, Fall 2003

Goal:

This course differs from a conventional social science course in that we present all of the relevant material through the use of in-class experiments rather than lectures. The use of experiments makes class both more enjoyable and insightful. One nice feature of economic experiments is that you can be both a participant and an observer, and you often will learn nearly as much about economic principles from your experience as a participant as you will from your analysis as an observer. Given the difficulty of reproducing the experiments on your own, make sure you always attend and participate during these sessions. At the conclusion of each experiment, it is time to really put economics to the test---can economic theory explain the complex interactions of the participants in your experiments?

After the experiment you will need to try and organize your thoughts about what occurred and discover the underlying principles of the system. This is not an easy thing to do, but your skill will improve with practice.

I hope that you will leave the class with both a deep understanding of what I feel are some of the most important principles underlying social decisions and also a general set of skills that will allow you to discover new ideas on your own.

Teachers:
- Professor: John H. Miller , contact information.
- Teaching Assistant: Scott Moser, contact information.
Students:
Some thoughts on teaching .

Announcements: Important course announcements, last updated 11 August, 2003.
At any time feel free to provide feedback to me via email or in person.
Make sure you come by my office during the first week of classes so I can get to know you.

Meeting Times and Location: MWF 10:30-11:20am, PH A21.
Materials:
1. [EEP] Theodore Bergstrom and John H. Miller, Experiments with Economic Principles: Microeconomics SECOND edition, McGraw-Hill, 2000. (Available at the fine CMU book store.)
2. You also need to register as a student at EconU.com. I will announce the needed "course code" in class. Make sure you register and enroll by 3:00 pm, Thursday, 28 August, 2003, or you will miss the first experiment.
3. On occasion, you may need to download some files for the in-class experiments. (These will also have links from the syllabus.)
4. An important part of the class is connecting the material we learn with the real world. For each chapter, we have begun a collection of relevant newspaper articles, make sure you read them as we work through the material. You may also want to keep track of the Time daily news summary or similar services for news about real policy making. Here is a link to the Iowa Political Stock Market. If you're interested, you can get information on all of the Nobel prize winners in economics (a particularly interesting story is the one about the "Lost Years" of John Nash). Of course, you also may want to know a few economist jokes.

Course Policies: Make sure you fully understand all of the important course policies.
Grading and Assignments:
- Make sure you understand the general grading and deadline policies.
- Your grade will be based on the following requirements .
- Performance Chart Data.
- Important Midterm Grade Information.
- If you are getting a C or below in this class, or just want to improve your grade, you should read and act on these suggestions for doing better.
Brownie Points: If you would to earn some brownie points (but, alas no formal extra credit), come and see me about developing resources for learning in the class. Anything from finding some good pointers to related material to developing a web-based experiment is appreciated.

Schedule: Here is the tentative schedule, last updated 11 August, 2003.

John H. Miller , miller@santafe.edu.