In August 2017, Billur Aksoy, a fifth-year doctoral student, participated in the “PhD Workshop in Behavioral and Experimental Economics” in Lofoten Islands, Norway. The workshop was organized by the Choice Lab at the Norwegian School of Economics. Open by invitation only, workshop attendees presented and discussed their research with senior researchers and fostered new networks and research collaborations. The workshop was followed by the “68 Degrees North Conference on Behavioral Economics.”

Congratulations, Billur!

In June 2017, Billur Aksoy, a fifth-year experimental economics PhD student, participated in the seventh biennial Social Dilemmas Working Group. The workshop was hosted by the Cleve E. Willis Lab at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Billur presented her research to the group and received invaluable feedback.

The Social Dilemmas Working Group emphasizes using multiple methods (including formal theory; laboratory, field and survey experiments; agent-based modeling; and observational data) and multidisciplinary views. This aids in developing theoretical foundations of behavior in social dilemmas; it also brings together researchers who are interested in human behavior in social dilemmas.

Way to go, Billur!

On Saturday, March 11, 2017, members of Texas A&M University’s experimental economics group attended and participated in the fourth annual Texas Experimental Association Symposium (TExAS) Meeting. This year’s TExAS Meeting was held at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Presenters and topics from Texas A&M included:

• Mackenzie Alston: “The Silver Lining of Unemployment”
• Noah Bacine: “Overcoming Identity Norms to Break the Glass Ceiling”
• Catherine Eckel and Rick Wilson (Rice University): “Shopping for Trust”
• Wei Zhan: “Discrimination and Identity: Using Dictator Games to Gauge Political Preferences”

Congratulations to all of our presenters!

Ragan Petrie has been awarded the Elton Lewis Faculty Fellowship. The Lewis Fellowship is a competitive award given to a prominent senior scholar in the College, following a nomination and careful review process. The Fellowship provides research support funding.

Congratulations, Ragan!

Doctoral students specializing in experimental economics presented at the 2016 Economic Science Association (ESA) Conference. The conference took place from November 19 – 21 in Washington, D.C.

The TAMU presenters and their talks were:

• Billur Aksoy: “Uninformed Giving: An Experiment”
• Abigail Peralta: “The impact of election fraud on government performance”
• Noah Bacine
• Ada Kovaliukaite

Doctoral students specializing in experimental economics presented at the 2016 Economic Science Association (ESA) Conference. The ESA Conference took place from November 10 – 12 in Tucson, AZ.

From October 14 – 15, 2016, the Texas A&M University Department of Economics hosted the 2016 Conference on Methods in Experimental Economic Research (“MEER” Conference).

Experimental economists from all over the county were in attendance, as were a number of TAMU graduate students. The conference was composed of eight talks over the course of the two days:

• Sally Sadoff, University of California at San Diego
• Michael Price, Georgia State University
• Heather Schofield, University of Pennsylvania
• Lucas Coffman, Harvard University
• Nathaniel Higgins, White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team
• Kelsey Jack, Tufts University
• Amanda Agan, Rutgers University
• Andrew Barr, Texas A&M University

The event was funded by a grant from the College of Liberal Arts. The first M.E.E.R. Conference took place in March 2015.

Billur Aksoy, a fourth-year experimental economics PhD student, received the John Van Huyck Teaching Award from the Department of Economics at Texas A&M University. The award is given to a doctoral student in economics who excels is teaching and is in honor of the late Dr. John Van Huyck.

Congratulations, Billur!

The Behavioral Economics and Policy Program (BEPP) at Texas A&M University is pleased to announce the arrival of two new faculty members to the team. Dr. Marco Castillo and Dr. Ragan Petrie have come to Texas A&M’s Department of Economics from George Mason University.

The BEPP is excited to have them join the Texas A&M experimental economics team.

Welcome, Ragan and Marco!