Resumo
A crescente popularidade da experimentação na economia ampliou o espaço para experimentos econômicos. Neste trabalho questionamos a relevância dos métodos experimentais para a avaliação de impactos econômicos. A principal finalidade da avaliação de impactos é responder a uma pergunta contrafactual. Mostramos que a caixa de ferramentas experimental do economista pode fornecer o método apropriado para dar a resposta certa, sobretudo a partir do uso de experimentos de campo randomizados (randomized field experiments, RFE). Contrastamos os RFEs com outros tipos de experimento e discutimos as limitações dos experimentos para fins de avaliação, apresentando três estudos de caso que fizeram uso de experimentos econômicos nos níveis individual, local e nacional.Referências
BANDIERA, O.; BARANKAY, I.; RASUL, I. Incentives for managers and inequality among workers: evidence from a firm-level experiment. Econometrica, v. 77, n. 4, p. 1047-1094, July 2009.
BANDIERA, O. Social preferences and the response to incentives: evidence from personnel data. Quarterly Journal of Economics, v. 120, n. 3, p. 917-962, 2005.
CARPENTER, J.; HARRISON, G.; LIST, J. Field experiments in economics: an introduction. In: CARPENTER, J.; HARRISON, G. W.; LIST, J. A. (Eds.). Field experiments in economics. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, Research in Experimental Economics, v. 10, 2004.
CUMMINGS, R.; HOLT, C.; LAURY, S. Using laboratory experiments for policymaking: an example from the Georgia irrigation reduction auction. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, v. 23, n. 2, p. 341-363, 2004.
DUFLO, E.; KREMER, M.; ROBINSON, J. How high are rates of return to fertilizer? Evidence from field experiments in Kenya. American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings), v. 98, n. 2, p. 482-488, 2008.
DUFLO, E. Nudging farmers to use fertilizer: theory and experimental evidence from Kenya. Working paper, 2010.
FISHER, R. A. The design of experiments. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1935.
FRIEDMAN, M. Capitalism and freedom. University of Chicago Press, 1962.
HARRISON, G. W.; LIST, J. A. Field experiments. Journal of Economic Literature, n. 42, p. 1009-55, 2004.
HARRISON, G. W. Field experiments and control. In: CARPENTER, J.; HARRISON, G. W.; LIST, J. A. (Eds.). Field experiments in economics. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, Research in Experimental Economics, v. 10, 2004.
KARLAN, D. Thoughts on randomized trials for evaluation of development: presentation to the Cairo evaluation clinic. Yale University, Innovations for Poverty Action, Jameel Poverty Action Lab, 2009.
LEVITT, S.; LIST, J. What do laboratory experiments measuring social preferences tell us about the real world? Journal of Economic Perspectives, v. 21, n. 2, p. 153-174, 2006.
LEVITT, S. Field experiments in economics: the past, the present, and the future. European Economic Review, n. 53, p. 1-18, 2009.
LIST, J. Field experiments: A bridge between lab and naturally occurring data. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, v. 6, n. 2 - Advances, article 8, 2006.
O’DONOGHUE, R. M. Doing it now or doing it later. American Economic Review, v. 89, n. 1, p. 103-124, 1999.
ROE, B.; JUST, D. Internal and external validity in economics research: tradeoffs between experiments, field experiments, natural experiments and field data. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, v. 91, n. 5, p. 1266-1271, 2009.
ROTH, A. The handbook of experimental economics. John H. Kagel and Alvin E. Roth, editors, Princeton University Press, v. 1, 1995.
SMITH, V. Economics in the laboratory. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, v. 8, n. 1, p. 113-131, 1994.
THALER, R.; SUNSTEIN, C. Nudge: improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.
O conteúdo dos artigos e resenhas publicados na RBI são de absoluta e exclusiva responsabilidade de seus autores.