UEA has been recognised as a leading centre of experimental economics since the 1980s, and has been at the forefront of the field ever since. In the rankings of economics departments published at econphd.net for the most recent available period (1993-2003), based on the publications of the foremost 15 faculty in different sub-areas, UEA is ranked fifth in the world and first in the UK for ‘decision theory/experiments’. One member of the research group, Robert Sugden, who currently holds an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Research professorship, is one of the select group of nine UK-based economists listed in the ISI database of the 250 most highly cited economists in the world.

Experimental economics aims to study economic behaviour of humans in the laboratory or in the field in a highly controlled manner. It tries to find support for economic theories that are hard to test with field data because important characteristics cannot be observed easily, it is able to provide empirical data for decision making environments or institutions that have not been implemented in the real world (like in a wind tunnel), and it helps to develop new theories of decision making in economics and psycholgy (the last branch is sometimes referred to as behavioural economics). Experimental and behavioural economics study such diverse topics as decision making under risk, cooperation and trust among humans, functioning of markets, the role of emotions in economic decision making and the optimal design of contracts or auctions to name but a few.

Interdisciplinarity is one of the keys to our research success.  Collaboration with researchers in other Schools within UEA is facilitated by the Centre For Behavioural and Experimental Social Science (CBESS), of which around half of the members are from our research group, and through which research seminars, workshops, and conferences are organised.

To conduct experiments and faciliate survey development work, we have a dedicated virtual reality and experimental laboratory which provides a flexible arrangement of 24 computer workstations, plus separate spaces for virtual reality simulations and for convening/observing/recording focus groups. We also have  a steady flow of new experimental doctoral students capable of providing research assistance and fostering a research atmosphere.

Our work centres on developing, testing and evaluating theories of preferences and choice, and in investigating the role of information and of expectations. We investigate the choices that people make as individuals and in interaction with one another, and the methods by which public policy decisions can be made responsive to individuals’ preferences. We use a wide range of research methods, including theoretical investigation, experiments, surveys, and philosophical enquiry, and make use of ideas from psychology, philosophy and social theory as well as economics.

In the 1980s, the primary focus was upon individual preference. That remains a major theme, but the scope has widened considerably during the past 15 years and the arrival of Klaus Abbink, Martin Kocher, Anders Poulsen, Abhijit Ramalingam, Ted Turocy and Daniel Zizzo has further broadened the range. In various combinations and with several research students, members of the group are exploring the evolution of conventions, norms and social preferences (e.g. issues of fairness, reciprocity, trust, and the impact of group membership and social interaction upon well-being). This remit includes the theoretical and experimental investigation of co-ordination games (exploring salience and focal points) and Hawk-Dove games (the evolution of discriminatory conventions); the acquisition and transmission of information; and the formation of (boundedly rational) expectations and beliefs, with financial/macroeconomic applications. Klaus Abbink and Subhasish Modak Chowdhury research on conflict between individuals and groups, both theoretically and experimentally.  Klaus Abbink and Daniel Zizzo have pioneered the study of antisocial behaviour in simple money-burning games. Martin Kocher works on behaviourally optimal contracts and decision making of groups, and Ted Turocy is an expert in auction theory and experiments.

Peter Moffatt has been working on issues relating to the econometric modelling of experimental data ("experimetrics").  For example he has compared and evaluated the various different strategies for incorporating a stochastic element to decision theories.  He has worked on the development of econometric methods which allow for different 'types' in any sample.  He has also worked on the criteria for optimal design of experiments in Economics.stochastic component in decision making:

Apart from conducting our own experiments, we are interested in methodological issues connected to behavioural and experimental economics.  For example, Peter Moffatt and Robert Sugden have been collaborating with Robin Cubitt, Graham Loomes, Chris Starmer (three former UEA economists) and Nick Bardsley (a UEA PhD) to write a book published in 2010 by Princeton University Press, entitled Experimental Economics: Rethinking the Rules, which provides a (possibly controversial) appraisal of the methodology of experimental economics. Daniel Zizzo has also published on methodologial issues, both in economics journals and elsewhere.

We have published in a number of top economics journals, including the American Economic Review, the Economic Journal, the Journal of Economic Theory, the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Review of Economic Studies. We have also published in leading international journals in our field, including Experimental Economics, Games and Economic Behavior, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Theory and Decision and the Journal of Economic Methodology among others. We also engage in interdisciplinary dialogue and have published in top journals in other areas, such as philosophy (e.g., Journal of Philosophy and Ethics) and psychology (e.g., Behavioral and Brain Sciences and American Journal of Psychology). We have research links with the School of Environmental Sciences (e.g., Ian Bateman), the School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice (Angela Robinson), and the School of International Development (Bereket Kebede), and some of our work inputs in the Centre for Competition Policy and in the industrial economics and applied econometrics and policy research groups. Our MSc in Experimental Economics is a unique programme offering both conceptual and practical training in experimental economics, and is often used as a pathway for doctorates in behavioural and experimental economics at UEA and elsewhere.