14.11 Putting Social Science to the TestField Experiments in Economics

14.11 Putting Social Science to the Testâ€"Field Experiments in Economics One of the economics electives I have signed up for is 14.11: Putting Social Science to the Test Field Experiments in Economics. From what I hear, this class was just created this year, and this is the first semester its being offered. I think the website is enrollee-only, so heres some information on what were going to study: What is 14.11? 14.11 is a new class on the topic of field (that is, in situ) and laboratory experiments in the social sciences both what these experiments have taught and can teach us and how to conduct them. The class has three major components: 1. In lecture, we will discuss (and you will read research papers on) 12 major substantive topics addressed by experimental social science, including: race discrimination, gender differences in behavior, persuasion, corruption and voting. (See the syllabus on this site for a complete list). 2. Each lecture will also cover methodological topics that will aid you in designing, conducting, analyzing and presenting a field or laboratory experiment. 3. You, the student, will conduct an original experimental study (i.e., not only library or Google research) with human subjects. There will be a number of structured assignments and milestones leading to the planning, execution, write-up and presentation of this research. List of topics: 1. Race discrimination 2. Gender differences in economic environments 3. Improving educational outcomes 4. Incentives 5. Intrinsic motivation and fairness 6. Commitment and self-control 7. Learning and social effects 8. Jury/advocacy 9. Housing experiments 10. Voting behavior and political economy 11. Public health and persuasion 12. Corruption/incentives I am SO excited for this class!