ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes key motives and pivotal experiences—which I label driving forces—that turned non-experimental economists into early pioneers of experimental economics and kick-started a continuous style of experimentation in the 1960s and 1970s.

The first driving force, integrity—the augmentation of what types of data are available to economists by introducing experimental data and advocating its advantages—is illustrated by the story of James Cox. The second, proximity, denoting the personal collection of data under controlled conditions, is illustrated by the experiences of Charles Plott. The third, data-theory symmetry, deals with the placing of experimental data on a par with economic theory and is illustrated by John Ledyard. Finally, the driving force of a virtuous circle—the realization that experimental research is most potent when it goes in tandem with economic theory—is introduced by Reinhard Selten’s discovery of sub-game perfect equilibrium that eventually led to his Nobel Prize in 1994.

These four protagonists, derived from an extensive oral history of experimental economists, were chosen to illustrate the driving forces. Their described experiences played no small part in the experimental life that they eventually embarked on.

摘要

本文分析了关键动机和关键经验（我将其标记为驱动力），这些经验和关键经验使非实验经济学家成为实验经济学的早期开拓者，并在1960年代和1970年代开始了连续的实验风格。

詹姆斯·考克斯（James Cox）的故事说明了完整性的第一个驱动力，即通过引入实验数据并倡导其优势来扩大经济学家可以使用的数据类型。第二种接近性表示在受控条件下的个人数据收集，这是查尔斯·普洛特的经验所说明的。第三个是数据理论的对称性，涉及将实验数据与经济理论相提并论，约翰·莱德亚德（John Ledyard）对此进行了说明。最终，良性循环的驱动力（即实验研究与经济理论相结合才是最有力的认识）是由赖因哈德·塞尔滕（Reinhard Selten）对子博弈完美均衡的发现引入的，最终他获得了1994年诺贝尔奖。

选择这四个主角是从广泛的实验经济学家的口述历史中选出的，以说明驱动力。他们描述的经历在他们最终着手的实验生活中起着不小的作用。