The Experimental Economics Initiative at the Yale Economic Growth Center brings together researchers using experimental methods to better understand economic behavior and the mechanisms underlying individual and institutional decision-making.

Led by EGC faculty affiliate Maria Kogelnik, the initiative seeks to expand experimental economics at Yale by supporting new research, bringing together scholars working at the frontier of the field, and creating opportunities for students and researchers to engage with experimental methods.

Experimental approaches allow economists to create controlled environments in which incentives, information, beliefs, and constraints can be varied systematically. These methods help researchers move beyond identifying whether an intervention works to understanding why people behave as they do and which mechanisms drive economic outcomes.

• Beliefs and decision-making: How do individuals form beliefs about themselves and others, and how do those beliefs affect economic choices?
• Gender and labor markets: How does economic behavior differ by gender, and what behavioral mechanisms can help explain gender differences in the labor market
• Discrimination and prejudice: How do expectations, social norms, perceptions, and interactions between groups shape discriminatory behavior and economic outcomes?
• Policy design and unintended consequences: Why do interventions such as quotas, blind hiring, or other institutional reforms sometimes work — and why can they sometimes produce unexpected behavioral responses?