Experimental Investigations of Laboratory Markets Under Conditions of Substantially Increased Time Frame, Scope and Scale

该项目继续探索实验性市场的特性，这些市场在时间框架、范围和规模上的运作大大超出了迄今为止所研究的市场系统。技术的进步，加上重大的科学进步，已经使几年前无法想象的实验室实验的实施和控制成为可能。这个由NSF资助的项目于1997年底启动，在一次实验中增加了在软件中运行的市场数量，从目前研究的典型的2到3个市场最大值，增加到超过200个，并且这个数字可以增加到这个数字的许多倍。实验时间从两三个小时增加到两天，但技术和方法可以支持持续数周的实验。实验对象的数量将从目前实验室实验的12人左右增加到实际实验中的90人，但这项技术可以支持数千人。本研究的目的是消除限制，为实验室实验方法的研究开辟新的经济现象，发展新的方法论，提高实验室实验结果与应用目的的相关性。这项研究集中在三个主要目标上。首先是启动一个过程，对市场时间框架、范围和规模在塑造市场行为中的作用进行识别和分类。研究的第一阶段包括创建大规模/范围的实验，其中包含了经过充分研究的小规模实验的关键方面。虽然提出的大规模实验基本上是新的，但与以前工作的联系将使它们成为“锚”，可用于在大型环境中进行各种不同实验的定向。第二个，也是主要的目标是为科学探究在现有技术、方法和业务规模范围内无法研究的问题打开大门。随着有限的时间、范围和规模可能产生的影响得到更好的理解，全新的研究课题和变量将得到解决。经典理论和应用理论都涉及多个市场的相互作用、相互依赖、信息不对称和包括多个组织在内的混合制度。但是，由于无法创造适当的环境，关于这些题目的实验受到限制。该研究项目将创建它们，解释实验实施并分析结果。第三个目标是制定支持此类实验所需的方法、程序和技术。基本技术和管理已被证明是可行的，但仍存在许多问题。在进行复杂实验时，受试者筛选、信息反馈和一般决策环境都需要进行研究。为了便于从新的数据源进行分析，还需要数据显示和查看实验结果的新方法。需要额外的实验管理技术，特别是如果该方法要通过对其他实验人员的可移植性测试。

The project continues an exploration of the properties of experimental markets that operate on a time frame, scope and scale substantially beyond market systems that have been studied to date. Advances in technology, coupled with significant scientific progress, have made possible the implementation and control of laboratory experiments that could not be imagined a few years ago. The NSF funded project, which was initiated in late 1997, increased the number of markets operating in the software during an experiment from the two or three market maximum, typical of current studies, to over two hundred and the number could be increased many multiples of that number. The time devoted to an experiment was increased from two or three hours to two days but the technology and methodology could support experiments that last weeks. The number of subjects was to be increased from the dozen or so typical of current laboratory experiments to ninety in an actual experiment but the technology could support thousands. The research purposed removes constraints, opens new economic phenomena for study by laboratory experimental methods, develops new methodology and enhances the relevance of laboratory experimental results for applied purposes.The research is focused on three broad objectives. The first is to initiate a process of identifying and classifying the roles of market time frames, scope and scale in shaping market behavior. The first phases of research involve the creation of large scale/scope experiments that incorporate critical aspects of well-researched, small-scale experiments. While the proposed large-scale experiments are substantially new, the links to previous work will make them 'anchors' that can be used for orientation in a variety of different experiments in large environments. The second, and major objective is to open for scientific inquiry issues that cannot be studied within the context of existing technology, methodology and scale of operation. Completely new research topics and variables will be addressed as the possible influences of limited time, scope and scale are better understood. Both classical theory and applied theory involve the interaction of multiple markets, interdependencies, information asymmetries and mixed institutions including multiple organizations. However, experimentation on such topics has been limited because appropriate environments could not be created. The research project will create them, interpret the experimental implementation and analyze the results. The third objective is to develop the methodologies, procedures and technologies needed to support such experiments. The basic technology and management have been demonstrated as feasible but many issues remain. Subject screens, information feedback and general decision making environments, when operating in complex experiments, require research. Data displays and new methods of viewing results of experiments are also needed to facilitate the analysis from the new data source. Additional experimental management technology is needed, especially if the methodology is to pass the test of portability to other experimentalists.