Professor strives to test economic theories in real-life experiments

Chicago Maroon, May 15, 2009

Economics professor John List doesn’t see why economics has to be studied any differently from biology: other sciences run experiments to isolate a variable, and so should economics.

List teaches a class at the U of C on experimental economics. Where traditional economics relies on analyzing data from past events, experimental economists take a more active approach. List, with a team of grads and undergrads, doesn’t hesitate to set up field experiments to test his theories on everything from school incentives to discrimination against the disabled.