Experimental and Behavioural Economics
Experimental and Behavioural Economics
The Experimental and Behavioural Economics Research Group (EBERG) draws its membership from economists based at the Economics Department at Warwick who work in the fields of Experimental Economics, Behavioural Economics and/or Subjective Wellbeing (“Happiness Economics”). Experimental methods are used in many fields of economics, including behavioural economics, public economics, labour economics, political economy, game theory, and financial economics. Behavioural economics is an attempt to understand decision-making in the context of the many psychological, cognitive and emotional factors that influence behaviour. Behavioural economists typically build on traditional economic models with insights from psychology or neuroscience. Since behavioural economics concerns the underlying motivations for behaviour it can be hard (though not impossible) to find data to support or develop behavioural theories without the use of experimental methods which explains the close relationship between the two fields.
Experimental and behavioural research are fundamentally interdisciplinary and this is reflected in the fact that the group is linked to other similar groups across the University of Warwick and beyond. DR@W is the overarching interdisciplinary group of all behavioural scientists in Warwick which, together with EBERG, also takes members from the Behavioural Science Group at Warwick Business School and behavioural and experimental psychologists based in the Psychology Department, and hosts a weekly seminar, the DR@W Forum. Many members of EBERG are also affiliated with Bridges, an interdisciplinary centre that includes behavioural and experimental work in its remit that also hosts regular seminars and workshops. Behaviour, Brain and Society is one of the University of Warwick’s global research priorities (GRPs) and the co-ordinator of EBERG sits on the board of the GRP. Several group members are actively involved in the ESRC CAGE centre. Theme 3 of CAGE is led by the co-ordinator of EBERG and has a special focus on subjective wellbeing.
People
Academics
Academics associated with the Reseach Group Name research group are:
Events
DR@W Forum - Zhang Xiaojie (Nanyang Technological University)
Persistent gender gaps remain a pressing concern across societies, despite significant progress in recent years. While research has uncovered many drivers of gender inequality, one underexplored factor is the growing interconnectedness and specialization within modern workplaces. In collaborative settings where individuals contribute through distinct roles, it becomes increasingly difficult to objectively assess each member’s contribution—opening the door for gender related socio-psychological factors to influence the allocation of credit between team members. In this study, we examine the claiming and allocation of credit in a novel experimental paradigm where participants first train to specialise in a specific task and subsequently participate in team production with complementary tasks. Importantly, although the team production process always involves completing the same set of complementary tasks, across teams, we vary the gender composition of teams and the degree of specialisation. Together with a rich set of supplementary variables, we are able to shed light on the effects of workplace specialisation on gender inequality and the mechanisms by which these results arise.