Political Experiments

In EMR 13, "Analyzing Politics," students participate in various type of experiments that appear in the class textbook to give a sense of strategic interactions among students.

One such experiment regards voting on committees according to an ideal point on a spatial model. (See details related to this activity here.) In another experiment, students simulate the communal purchasing of public goods. (See handouts for both experiments attached below.) 

To do these experiments, students are given handouts and verbal instruction. It is important to provide a detailed review of the experiment. After the activity, the class reviews the experiment result and compares it with the standard textbook outcome. Then they discuss why and how they are different.

These activities were designed by Hye Young You, Michael Gill, and Dustin Tingley.