On Uneven Expected Earnings in the Lab
16 Pages Posted: 25 Feb 2014
Date Written: February 17, 2014
Abstract
We discuss ways to cope with uneven expected lab earnings that are the likely results of role assignments. We identify three problems associated with uneven earnings in the lab: of social preferences, of low marginal return for effort, and of perceived deception. Mining the opinions of respondents from the Economic Science Association’s (ESA) discussion list, the literature, and drawing on our own experience, we present five responses experimenters can use to mitigate the three problems. We discuss the merits and drawbacks of each strategy.
Keywords: uneven expected lab earnings, social preferences, preferences
JEL Classification: B41, C91, C92
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation