At 5:44 PM -0600 on 10/2/00, EDUCAUSE wrote: > HOW ECONOMISTS HELP PREDICT BEHAVIOR ONLINE > Experimental economics, which has been long been viewed as > impractical, is now being deemed relevant due to the rise of the > Web. Experimental economists use data to predict market > behavior, and are increasingly attracting attention from U.S. > business schools, the FCC, and businesses such as IBM and > Hewlett-Packard. IBM has opened an experimental-economics lab, > which Robert Baseman, IBM's senior research manager, says will > help clients develop and deploy their e-markets. University of > Arizona professor Vernon Smith, who uses an experimental > economics game to study trust relationships, says that such > exercises connect to IBM's e-business focus. Smith, who spoke at > the dedication of IBM's experimental lab, says that the anonymity > of the Internet and e-commerce calls for reputation-building > systems to enable trust-based trading. > (Wall Street Journal, 02 October 2000) -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
