Field experiments can generate stable and transparent data in economic analyses. They are very suitable to serve the transition in China where everything is constantly changing.

 

Economists are increasingly favoring field experiments as a means of empirical research in an effort to make the discipline more scientifically rigorous. Chinese scholars examine the real world to make inferences about the transitional Chinese economy.

 

‘Real world’ studies
Over the past few years, experimental economics in laboratories has become a major research domain and an indispensable source of data for mainstream economics. However, many academics question the external validity of laboratory experiments.

 Yao Yu, executive director of the Behavioral Economics Laboratory at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said laboratory experiments can be problematic for a number of reasons. “Some policies are set for fixed groups in public policy research. For example, poverty alleviation policies target migrant workers and other socially vulnerable group,” Yao said. “However, most subjects in laboratory experiments are university students, so the results often fail to reflect the particular behavior of migrant workers.”
 

Unlike laboratory experiments, which place restrictions on scenarios and subjects, field experiments are seen as a more accurate representation of the “real world.” “Field experiments in economic research are totally different from field investigations in sociology,” said Zhou Ye’an, a professor from the School of Economics at Renmin University of China.
 

 He said field experiments in economic research randomize subjects into control and variable groups. On the premise that other variables are fixed, researchers then introduce some variables, observe behavior, and compile statistics. Conclusions are then drawn by comparing outcomes between these groups.
 

Field experiments are so named to distinguish them from laboratory experiments. They avoid the biggest shortcomings of laboratory experiments. They tend to be more random and less prone to selection bias. Moreover, subjects in field experiments behave more naturally after receiving developmental intervention, giving the experiments greater external validity.
 

Serving transitioning China
Field experiments are a research method that links laboratories to the real world. Supplying laboratory experiments and econometrics, they enrich economic research.

Field experiments are widely used in economic analyses. They can observe education, medical care and agriculture in developmental economics. In labor economics, they can be used to study employment discrimination, salary stimulation and family policies. They can also discern the effectiveness of charitable donation and public strategies in public economics. Headway has been made in all these domains, said Chen Yefeng, an associate professor from the School of Economics at Zhejiang University.
 

In terms of Chinese economics, the nation’s transitional phase offers abundant material for field experiments.
 

China is in the process of a transition in which everything is constantly changing. It is hardly possible to generate stable and transparent data. Also, the change leads to uncertain relationships between variables. In such an atmosphere, economic models based on a mature market economy cannot be directly introduced.

By contrast, field experiments can generate data directly. The process of generating data is transparent and stable, accurately reflecting Chinese realities. Therefore, research using these methods is well suited to the current circumstances of China, Zhou said.

In addition, field experiments allow researchers to observe and record the thought processes of subjects, Yao said. This helps overcome the defects of policy research, enabling scholars to better understand how public policies take effect in practice, thus providing more scientific evidence for policy designs.
 

 
Weaknesses
So far, few Chinese economists have made attempts to conduct field experiments, so the methodology has much room to grow. But field experiments have a number of limitations and shortcomings as well, such as ethical risks, high funding costs and extraordinary standards for researchers’ capabilities as well as a difficulty controlling for anomalies.
 

Scholars like Luo Jun and Wang Dingding emphasized the shortcomings of field experiments in the thesis Experimental Economics: Reflecting the Real World. They argued that field experiments are not a one-size-fits-all approach suited for all theories. Other empirical research methods, such as natural and survey data collection, laboratory experiments and meter analyses should also be part of the work as well, they said.
 

At present, field experiments, including policy pilots guided by local governments, rarely meet the requirements. Also, field experimentsare expensive and lack professionals with sufficient expertise. Yao suggested more training for officers who are often involved in policy pilots, so that they can understand what field experiments mean in relation to overall work.
 

“The United States and the United Kingdom both have set up experimental groups for policy behavior studies. We should not fall behind,” Yao said.

 

 

 Zhang Jie and Zhang Qingli are reporters at the Chinese Social Sciences Today.