The Ethics of Economic Experiments

Chapter 17 — The Ethics of Economic Experiments Rigorous design is not enough—research must also be conducted responsibly. This chapter develops an economic model of the trade-offs researchers face when their interests conflict with those of subjects or innocent bystanders, grounding ethical analysis in principles of autonomy, welfare maximization, and rule consequentialism. It covers the three pillars of ethical experimentation—truthful reporting, data governance and management, and conflict-of-interest management—and establishes ethical benchmarks that allow the experimenter to choose states of the world that are better than the status quo without causing unjustified harm.

1. Three areas in which ethical considerations play a key role in experimentation are (1) reporting, (2) data governance and management, and (3) when the researcher and subjects (or innocent bystanders) have conflicting interests.
2. While truthful reporting and data issues are incontrovertible, an economic model highlights relevant design trade-offs when there are conflicting interests between the researcher and subjects (bystanders).
3. Ethical and moral codes guide which route the experimentalist should take concerning such crucial trade-offs, and several principles serve as a starting point for ethical research design.
4. With these principles in hand, we leverage a rule consequentialist approach to create ethical benchmarks for experimentation.