Social ExperimentationJerry A. Hausman, David A. Wise University of Chicago Press, 2007 M12 1 - 300 pages Since 1970 the United States government has spent over half a billion dollars on social experiments intended to assess the effect of potential tax policies, health insurance plans, housing subsidies, and other programs. Was it worth it? Was anything learned from these experiments that could not have been learned by other, and cheaper, means? Could the experiments have been better designed or analyzed? These are some of the questions addressed by the contributors to this volume, the result of a conference on social experimentation sponsored in 1981 by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The first section of the book looks at four types of experiments and what each accomplished. Frank P. Stafford examines the negative income tax experiments, Dennis J. Aigner considers the experiments with electricity pricing based on time of use, Harvey S. Rosen evaluates housing allowance experiments, and Jeffrey E. Harris reports on health experiments. In the second section, addressing experimental design and analysis, Jerry A. Hausman and David A. Wise highlight the absence of random selection of participants in social experiments, Frederick Mosteller and Milton C. Weinstein look specifically at the design of medical experiments, and Ernst W. Stromsdorfer examines the effects of experiments on policy. Each chapter is followed by the commentary of one or more distinguished economists. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 27
Page 2
... customers were unheard of in the United States before the experi- ments began . Nevertheless , estimated income elasticities from models of labor supply based on , say , the Survey of Economic Opportunity could be used to predict the ...
... customers were unheard of in the United States before the experi- ments began . Nevertheless , estimated income elasticities from models of labor supply based on , say , the Survey of Economic Opportunity could be used to predict the ...
Page 3
... customers for peak - period electricity large enough so that the net effect on the customer's welfare plus the change in revenues and investments required of the electric utility would justify implementation of TOU rates . That is , the ...
... customers for peak - period electricity large enough so that the net effect on the customer's welfare plus the change in revenues and investments required of the electric utility would justify implementation of TOU rates . That is , the ...
Page 11
... customers to justify implementation of such rates . This " justification " involves three specific effects the revenue impact on the utility , the amount of capacity reduction implied , and changes in consumer welfare . The experiments ...
... customers to justify implementation of such rates . This " justification " involves three specific effects the revenue impact on the utility , the amount of capacity reduction implied , and changes in consumer welfare . The experiments ...
Page 12
... customers . Without rate - structure variation it is difficult to ascertain anything more than qualitative effects on customer demands resulting from the institu- tion of a TOU rate - structure . Consequently , our primary criterion in ...
... customers . Without rate - structure variation it is difficult to ascertain anything more than qualitative effects on customer demands resulting from the institu- tion of a TOU rate - structure . Consequently , our primary criterion in ...
Page 18
... customers ' response patterns . Miedema et al . ( 1978 ) obtain similar results using monthly data over the same period as Taylor.3 They estimate four different models of electricity consumption by time - of - day , employing as ...
... customers ' response patterns . Miedema et al . ( 1978 ) obtain similar results using monthly data over the same period as Taylor.3 They estimate four different models of electricity consumption by time - of - day , employing as ...
Contents
1 | |
11 | |
2 Housing Behavior and the Experimental HousingAllowance Program What Have We Learned? | 55 |
3 IncomeMaintenance Policy and Work Effort Learning from Experiments and LaborMarket Studies | 95 |
4 Macroexperiments versus Microexperiments for Health Policy | 145 |
5 Technical Problems in Social Experimentation Cost versus Ease of Analysis | 187 |
6 Toward Evaluating the CostEffectiveness of Medical and Social Experiments | 221 |
7 The Use of Information in the Policy Process Are SocialPolicy Experiments Worthwhile? | 251 |
8 Social Science Analysis and the Formulation of Public Policy Illustrations of What the President Knows and How He Comes to Know It | 257 |
List of Contributors | 283 |
Author Index | 285 |
Subject Index | 288 |
Common terms and phrases
Aigner analysis ANOVA assess assumptions attrition behavior benefits Broad Peak budget changes cholesterol clinical trials control group cost-effectiveness costs decision demand experiment discussion econometric economic efficacy EHAP elasticity estimates electricity eligible endogenous equation evaluation example exogenous experimental data experimental design experimental effect function Hausman and Wise Hawthorne effects hedonic households housing allowances housing services hypertension impact important incentive income maintenance increase individual Institute intervention issues Journal labor supply labor-market likelihood function macroexperimentation macroexperiments measure ment Mosteller MRFIT negative income tax nonexperimental observations off-peak outcomes paper parameters payments peak percent perimental period policy makers population potential pre-experimental predict price elasticity problems procedure projects question random residential response Rosen selection selectivity bias social experiments specific statistical Stromsdorfer studies subjects supply experiment time-of-day tion TOU pricing TOU rates treatment assignment treatment effect treatment groups U.S. Congress unemployment utility variables variation wage welfare
Popular passages
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Page 192 - Professor of Political Economy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and research associate. National Bureau of Economic Research.
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