Daniel Stephenson and Zhengzheng Wang, graduate students in Department of Economics, have been selected to attend the Annual Visiting Graduate Student Workshop in Experimental Economics at Chapman University on January 6-13, 2013. The workshop is supported by the Economic Science Institute (ESI) and the International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics (IFREE). The IFREE workshop is an annual event designed to introduce graduate students to rigorous research methods in Experimental Economics, as well as a refresher for advanced students. Each year, graduate students are chosen to attend this workshop from universities all over the world. Admission is competitive. This week long workshop will be led by the distinguished faculty at ESI, such as Nobel laureate Vernon Smith, along with Bart Wilson, Sarah Brosnan, Terence Burnham, Gabriele Camera, and others. The workshop will cover a diverse range of topics in the experimental economics field, such as endogenous institutions, Biological foundations of economics, virtual firms, and contests.

J. Forrest Williams, a graduate student in Department of Economics, has been selected to attend the Spring School. (March 14-21) in Economics at the University of California, San Diego. The workshop is supported by the Choice Lab at the Norwegian School of Economics and the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego. He is one of 25 graduate students from around the world to be selected from a competitive admissions process. The school allows students to gain a deeper understanding of conducting behavioral economics research and will focus on a broad range of topics. These topics include social preferences, (psychological) games, incentives, charitable giving and behavioral interventions. The school is composed of 10 half-day lectures delivered by: Jim Andreoni, Alexander Cappelen, Martin Dufwenberg, Armin Falk, Uri Gneezy, Theo Offerman, Bertil Tungodden, Lise Vesterlund and Angelino Viceisza.

Graduate students Jacob Williams and Haley Harwell presented their work on experimental economics at the 2012 North American Economics Science Association Meetings in Tucson this weekend. Williams´s research, coauthored with Assistant Professors Alex Brown and Jonathan Meer, concerned how individuals give to charities differently when donating time or money. Harwell´s research, coauthored with Professor Catherine Eckel, involved how trust differs among individuals in three different low-income Texas communities.

Gary Charness, professor at University of California at Santa Barbara, visited the Department of Economics at Texas A&M University as part of the faculty in residence program of the Economic Research Laboratory´s Humanities and Social Science Enhancement of Research Capacity grant. His visited spanned the week of November 7 to November 14. During that time, he gave one seminar, led one graduate class on experimental economics, and held numerous discussions with graduate students about their research. He also continued a project with Professor Alex Brown that will examine the attribution of success to prominent figures in an organization. That project will be run in the ERL in future months.

Matthias Firchow, a PhD student at the Clausthal University of Technology in Germany, visited the ERL in November 2012. He worked on a project that replicates and extends Eckel´s work on crowding out of charitable giving by government policy to environmental causes. Matthias hopes to return in February to conduct his experiments in the ERL (IRB approval pending).

Nobel laureate and economics professor at Chapman University, Vernon Smith has been appointed to the Institute of Advanced Study at Texas A&M University. This appointment will require Smith to visit Texas A&M University over two one week periods. The first period will span March 19-24. Smith received his Nobel Prize for his path-breaking work on markets in experimental economics, and is widely regarded as the founder of experimental economics.

Dr. Catherine C. Eckel is the recipient of the 2012 Carolyn Shaw Bell Award. This prestigious award was created in January 1998 as part of the 25th Anniversary celebration of the founding of the American Economic Association Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP). Carolyn Shaw Bell, the Katharine Coman Chair Professor Emerita of Wellesley College, was the first Chair of CSWEP. The Carolyn Shaw Bell Award is given annually to an individual who has furthered the status of women in the economics profession, through example, achievements, increasing our understanding of how women can advance in the economics profession, or mentoring others. See the official announcement here

The Economic Research Laboratory wholeheartedly congratulates Alvin R. Roth on his Nobel prize. His prize, joint with Lloyd Shapley, is for his research into the design of stable matching markets. While known for both his experimental and theoretical work, Roth has been an excellent representative for experimental economics, serving as the president for the Economic Science Association, an organization of experimental economists. His acceptance speech is found here.

Xiaoyuan Wang and Wei Zhan, graduate students in Department of Economics, have been selected to attend the Eighteenth Annual Visiting Graduate Student Workshop in Experimental Economics at Chapman University on January 6-13, 2013. The workshop is supported by the Economic Science Institute (ESI) and the International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics (IFREE).  The IFREE workshop is an annual event designed to introduce graduate students to rigorous research methods in Experimental Economics, as well as a refresher for advanced students. Each year 25 graduate students are chosen to attend this workshop from universities all over the world. Admission is competitive.
This week long workshop will be led by the distinguished faculty at ESI, such as Nobel laureate Vernon Smith, along with Bart Wilson, David Porter, Abel Winn, Terence Burnham, Dan Kovenock, Roman Sheremeta, Gabriele Camera, Brice Corgnet, Stephen Rassenti and others. The workshop will cover a diverse range of topics in the experimental economics field, such as endogenous institutions, Biological foundations of economics, virtual firms, contests, among others.
Haley Harwell and J. Forrest Williams, both current Economics graduate students who attended the Seventeenth Annual IFFREE workshop earlier this year, highly recommend attending this workshop for Graduate Students interested in experimental methodology in general.

Assistant Professor Alex Brown has been appointed Co-Director of the Economic Research Laboratory, sharing that role with Professor John Van Huyck. Brown has been actively involved in the ERL since his hiring in September 2008.