ABSTRACT
Why write a book on the history and methodology of field experiments in economics? The usual academic rationale is because one has not been written yet. When Guala (2005), which would become the standard reference for the methodological analysis of experimental economics, was published almost 20 years ago, the practice and methodology of field experiments were still under development. Guala (2005) cites Harrison and List (2004), which would become the main reference for the methodology of field experiments, in a footnote as “in press” (p. 145, footnote 3). This book intends to engage critically with major developments in field experiments in economics since then. A more substantial reason to study the history and methodology of field experiments is that the field challenges are the very foundations of the laboratory. Field studies are often used to counteract the methodological flaws of laboratory experiments, but doing experiments in the field—a hybrid of field and laboratory studies—redefines the field-lab dichotomy, raising new methodological issues that have not been explicitly addressed.
