This article is in three parts: in the first section, a real case of laboratory experimentation in economics illustrates what experimentalists do in order to test the external validity of their results. Then, it is shown that such a practice presupposes a specific conception of the causal relations economists are seeking. Some general remarks about the notions of external validity and parallelism are provided in conclusion.
Berg, J.E. , Dickhaut, J.W. and O'Brien, J.R. (1985) “Preference Reversal and Arbitrage”, Research in Experimental Economics3: 31-71.
2.
Bernard, C. (1949) An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine. Paris: Henry Schuman. (Originally published 1865.)
3.
Binmore, K. (1999) “Why Experiment in Economics?”, Economic Journal109: F16-F24.
4.
Camerer, C. (1995) “Individual Decision Making”, in J.H. Kagel and A.E. Roth (eds) The Handbook of Experimental Economics, pp. 587-703. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
5.
Cartwright, N. (1989) Nature's Capacities and Their Measurement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
6.
Cartwright, N. (1994) “Fundamentalism vs. the Patchwork of Laws”, Aristotelian Society Proceedings94: 279-292.
7.
Chu, Y.P. and Chu, R.L. (1990) “The Subsidence of Preference Reversals in Simplified and Marketlike Experimental Settings: A Note”, American Economic Review80: 902-911.
8.
Cox, J.C. and Grether, D.M. (1996) “The Preference Reversal Phenomenon: Response Mode, Markets and Incentives”, Economic Theory7: 381-405.
9.
Dupré, J. (1993) The Disorder of Things. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
10.
Fodor, J.A. (1987) Psychosemantics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
11.
Fodor, J.A. (1989) “Making Mind Matter More”, Philosophical Topics17: 59-79.
12.
Grether, D.M. and Plott, C.R. (1979) “Economic Theory of Choice and the Preference Reversal Phenomenon”, American Economic Review69: 623-638.
13.
Guala, F. (1999) “Economics and the Laboratory”, doctoral dissertation, University of London.
14.
Guala, F. (forthcoming) “Experiments as Mediators in the Non-Laboratory Sciences”, Philosophica.
15.
Hausman, D.M. (1990) “Supply and Demand Explanations and Their Ceteris Paribus Clauses”, Review of Political Economy2: 168-187. Reprinted in Essays on Philosophy and Economic Methodology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992
16.
Hausman, D.M. (1992) The Inexact and Separate Science of Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
17.
Hausman, D.M. (1998) Causal Asymmetries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18.
Hausman, D.M. and Mongin, P. (1998) “Economists' Responses to Anomalies: Full-Cost Pricing versus Preference Reversals”, in J. Davis (ed.) New Economics and Its History. Supplement to History of Political Economy 29, pp. 255-272. Duke, NC: Duke University Press.
19.
Hempel, C.G. (1965) Aspects of Scientific Explanation. New York: Free Press.
20.
Humphreys, P. (1989) The Chances of Explanation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
21.
Kincaid, H. (1990) “Defending Laws in the Social Sciences”, Philosophy of the Social Sciences20: 56-83.
22.
Knez, M. and Smith, V.L. (1987) “Hypothetical Valuations and Preference Reversals in the Context of Asset Trading”, in A.E. Roth (ed.) Laboratory Experimentation in Economics: Six Points of View, pp. 131-154. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
23.
Lichtenstein, S. and Slovic, P. (1971) “Reversals of Preference Between Bids and Choices in Gambling Decisions”, Journal of Experimental Psychology89: 46-55.
24.
Lichtenstein, S. and Slovic, P. (1973) “Response-induced Reversals of Preference in Gambling: An Extended Replication in Las Vegas”, Journal of Experimental Psychology101: 16-20.
25.
McAfee, R.P. and MacMillan, J. (1987) “Auctions and Bidding”, Journal of Economic Literature25: 699-738.
26.
Newton, I. (1966) Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Los Angeles: University of California Press. (Originally published 1687.)
27.
Plott, C.R. (1987) “Dimensions of Parallelism: Some Policy Applications of Experimental Methods”, in A.E. Roth (ed.) Laboratory Experimentation in Economics: Six Points of View, pp. 193-219. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
28.
Plott, C.R. (1995) “Rational Individual Behaviour in Markets and Social Choice Processes: The Discovered Preference Hypothesis”, in K.J. Arrow, E. Colombatto, M. Perlman and C. Schmidt (eds) The Rational Foundations of Economic Behaviour, pp. 225-250. London: Macmillan.
29.
Popper, K.R. (1934/1959) The Logic of Scientific Discovery. London: Hutchinson.
30.
Popper, K.R. (1957) “The Aim of Science”, Ratio 1: 24-35. Reprinted in Objective Knowledge, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972.
31.
Rosenberg, A. (1992) Economics: Mathematical Politics or Science of Diminishing Returns?Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
32.
Russell, B. (1963) “On the Notion of Cause”, in Mysticism and Logic, pp. 132-151. London: Allen and Unwin. (Originally published 1913.)
33.
Smith, V.L. (1976) “Experimental Economics: Induced Value Theory”, American Economic Review 66: 274-277. Reprinted in Papers in Experimental Economics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
34.
Smith, V.L. (1982) “Microeconomic Systems as an Experimental Science”, American Economic Review 72: 923-955. Reprinted in Papers in Experimental Economics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
35.
Smith, V.L. (1987) “Auctions”, in J. Eatwell, M.Milgate and P. Newman (eds) The New Palgrave, vol. 2, pp. 39-53. London: Macmillan.
36.
Thaler, R.H. and Tversky, A. (1990) “Preference Reversals”, Journal of Economic Perspectives4: 201-211.
37.
Woodward, J. (1997) “Explanation, Invariance and Intervention”, Philosophy of Science64 (Proceedings): S26-S41.