The Methodology of Experimental Economics (Broché)

"This excellent study teaches new lessons not only about experiments and how they work in economics but about scientific warrant more generally. It is a book for philosophers and economists alike and for anyone concerned with experimental methods in the social sciences." Nancy Cartwright, London School of Economics. "Economists are just starting to recognize the complementary nature of laboratory experiments, field experiments, social experiments, natural experiments, and especially thought experiments.
Focusing on what experimental economists do, instead of what they say they do, Guala provides a masterful structure that allows one to see the fundamental contribution of the experimental method. He shows that inferences within experiments are the result of forcing 'mere theorists' to be operational at all times, to take themselves seriously as scientists, and that inferences from experiments derive from always having to deal with the objects of actual behavior from subjects that care naught what we think about them." Glenn Harrison, University of Central Florida.
"This is an up-to-date, subtle, and well-informed study of experimentation in economics. All those who are interested in the possibilities of using experimentation to test, improve, articulate, and apply economic models should read it. Guala has done both economists and methodologists a great service." Dan Hausman, University of Wisconsin, Madison. "Experimental economists are fortunate that their research is the special interest of Francesco Guala, who is on course to become one of the world's leading philosophers of social science.
In this beautifully clear book, Guala examines the methodology of experimental economics from the perspective of the philosophy of science. Philosophers will find a penetrating and accurate description of what experimental economists actually do, while experimentalists will find a wide-ranging and undogmatic account of the latest developments in the philosophy of science. A tour de force." Robert Sugden, University of East Anglia.