How Experiments with Children Inform Economics

Abstract

and students at the Behavioral and Experimental Economics (BEE) research group. This research was funded by the Kenneth and Anne Griffin Foundation and by NIH grant 1R01DK114238. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Fairness and inequality acceptance in children and adolescents: A survey on behaviors in economic experiments

“…Studying children's and adolescents’ decision‐making in economic contexts is of fundamental interest on its own. It is also important for several other reasons (for recent contributions, see, e.g., Cobb‐Clark et al., 2021; List et al., 2021). First, for example, the seminal work of Heckman and colleagues on human capital formation in general and the development of non‐cognitive skills before adulthood in particular shows that understanding adult behaviors requires knowledge about behavioral development (e.g., Cunha & Heckman, 2007; Heckman, 2006).…”

“…The design of experiments that can be conducted with children and adolescents in a meaningful way requires very careful consideration of the cognitive and non‐cognitive skills at the given age, including limited patience and attention span. It also requires the adaption of key elements of standard experimental paradigms, such as representation or incentives (details are recently summarized by Brocas & Carrillo, 2020; List et al., 2021). Similarly to Sutter et al.…”

Closing the Gender Stem Gap - a Large-Scale Randomized-Controlled Trial in Elementary Schools

“…That is, boys and girls start to differ in crucial determinants for educational decisions such as preferences and beliefs already at a young age (e.g., Dahlbom et al, 2011;Buser et al, 2014;Bian et al, 2017). Second, interests will guide children's skill investments, which are important inputs into their education production functions, shaping later life choices and outcomes (Heckman, 2006;List et al, 2018List et al, , 2021. Relevant education choices such as track/school choice are made as early as elementary school in Austria (at an age below or around ten years) and might be important in determining a child's preparedness to pursue a STEM career later on (Delaney and Devereux, 2019;Card and Payne, 2021).…”

The adventure of running experiments with teenagers

“…There is an increasing interest in children and teenagers among economists. The recent work of List et al (2022) provides advice on how to run experiments with them, viewing this new research field as extremely promising. This interest of economists for non-adult people originates in the findings that undesirable human behavior is frequently linked with higher discount rate for both adults and children.…”