Workshop is Sponsored by the International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics Run for 6 years (2011-2016) A Total of 99 HS Students 24 Intern Mentors for 24 Teams Students Encounter Economics in Experiments Students Design and Build an Economic System Students Learn to Communicate Research

1. Teaching Economics …
in Virtual Worlds …
Kevin A. McCabe
Professor of Economics, Law, and Neuroscience
George Mason University
kmccabe@gmu.edu

2. Features of Virtual Worlds
immersive, in world
user-created, build once use
often
persistent, start where
you left off
collaborative, work with others
online, on your computer

3. Virtual Worlds
Second
Life
Open-
Simulator
Firestorm
Client
Viewer
Servers
Kitely
Hosting
Dream-
World

4. Virtual Labs for
Experimental Economists
Communication and visibility in public goods provision
E Haruvy, SX Li, K McCabe, P Twieg - Games and
Economic Behavior, 2017

5. Welcome
Region
Orientation
Region
Resource
Region
Examples
Region
Research
Region
Team 1
Region
Team 2
Region
Team 3
Region
Team 4
Region
Prims
Avatars

6. CSN/IFREE Summer Workshops
Encounter – Build – Communicate

7. This Workshop is Sponsored by the
International Foundation for Research in
Experimental Economics
"for having established laboratory
experiments as a tool in empirical
economic analysis, …”

8. Some Facts About the Workshop
Run for 6 years (2011-2016)
A Total of 99 HS Students
24 Intern Mentors for
24 Teams
Students Encounter Economics in Experiments
Students Design and Build an Economic System
Students Learn to Communicate Research

10. High School Workshop Schedule
Mon. – Thur.
09:00-12:00 Demonstration Experiment and Discussion
12:00-01:00 Lunch (and Lunch Time Activity)
01:00-04:00 Team Project Work
Fri.
Work All Day - Reception

12. Discussion of Experiment

13. LUNCH TIME!

14. Students Plan Projects

15. Students Present Projects

16. Afternoon: Work on Projects

17. Afternoon Project
Discussion

18. Afternoon: Work on Projects
This is how they start.
They have arrived

19. Starting to build
Terraforming

20. Scripting
Ready to run

21. Virtual World Experiments
Econ. 895
Econ. 496

22. HYPERINFLATION
Chris Messier

23. Environment

24. Automated gov’t player introduced in round 3
Government has same utility function as players
Makes purchases every 10 seconds using the market
Purchases are made by ‘printing’ money
Purchases made within 125% of the highest price
Environment

25. Institution
Double Auctions
1. Improvement Rule
2. Bids and Asks in Tokens

27. Trade Networks
Peter Twieg

28. Trust Network Experiment
R
R C
CTeleporter to
Villages
R Ring
Harvester
C Circle
Harvester
Open chat through keyboard when in proximity

29. Production and Value
10 cents
10 cents
40 cents
40 cents
160 cents
{Within
Village
{
Between
Village

30. Increasing Value by
Sharing Harvesters
S1
S2

31. Increasing Value by
Barter Within Village
S1 S2
t+1
t
t+2
t+2

32. Increasing Value by
Barter Between Villages
S1 S2
t+1
t
t+2
t+2

33. Session 4
Red (Rich), Green (Poor), Blue (Poor)
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
1 2 3 4 5 6
R
G
B
Income
Period

34. R1 R2 R3 R4 G1 G2 G3 G4 B1 B2 B3 B4
R1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
R2 0 0 15 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
R3 0 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
R4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
G1 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 20 0 0 0 0
G2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
G3 0 0 0 0 25 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
G4 0 0 0 0 20 0 2 0 0 0 0 0
B1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
B3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Trade Network (Period 1)
Session 4 (Rich-Poor-Poor)

35. Trade Network (Period 2)
Session 4 (Rich-Poor-Poor)
R1 R2 R3 R4 G1 G2 G3 G4 B1 B2 B3 B4
R1 0 10 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
R2 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
R3 15 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
R4 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
G1 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0
G2 0 0 0 0 7 0 5 10 0 0 0 0
G3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0
G4 0 0 0 0 0 10 6 0 0 0 0 0
B1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

36. Chat Network (Period 1)
Session 4 (Rich-Poor-Poor)
R1 R2 R3 R4 G1 G2 G3 G4 B1 B2 B3 B4
R1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
R2 3 0 5 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
R3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
R4 1 6 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
G1 0 0 0 0 0 5 6 9 0 0 0 0
G2 0 0 0 0 4 0 4 4 0 0 0 0
G3 0 0 0 0 17 11 0 47 0 0 0 0
G4 0 0 0 0 11 3 18 0 0 0 0 0
B1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2 5
B2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 3 4
B3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 8 0 2
B4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 13 7 0

37. Thank
you