VeconLab Introduction

  • Overview: This site provides about 60 on-line programs, each of which lets you run a particular type of market or game. For example, you can set up a simple two-person game with payoffs for a "Prisoner's Dilemma," or you can run a complex asset market with numerous traders submitting bid and ask prices. Other programs implement elections, auctions, bargaining, choices between alternative gambles, etc.
    The various programs can be accessed from the main Admin Menu:
      https://veconlab.econ.virginia.edu/admin.php
    Students log in from the analogous Login menu:
      https://veconlab.econ.virginia.edu/login.php
    The experiments can be used in teaching or research; have fun!

  • Features: For each game, there is a range of setup options (numbers of players and rounds, payoff parameters, information conditions, auction rules, context and terminology, etc.). Class default settings are provided. Participant instructions are automatically configured to the selected setup options. Results are presented in graphs and color-coded tables that can be stored or copied into a spreadsheet for further analysis.

  • Software and Hardware: The programs use a server-side PHP/MYSQL combination, and there is no need to download any software. All you need is one or more laptops or other devices that are connected to the internet, anywhere in the world, via any standard browser. The programs have been designed and written by Charles Holt in consultation with coauthors and users; suggestions may be sent to him: charles.holt4@gmail.com

  • To Begin: If you do not have a user name on this server, please click on the Get Started link on the Admin Menu, and then Register. Each user name will be associated with "session names," which are essentially your personal data storage tables. For example, a user name cah would provide up to 30 session names cah1, cah2, etc. Session names can be re-used, which overwrites the data from the previous session, and having multiple session names will let you run and access results for multiple sections of a class or for different experiments in the same class. If you already have a user name, you may want to learn more about the software, try an on-line demonstration, which illustrates what a student might see while reading instructions and while playing 5 rounds of a simple game: On-line Demo


    Vecon Lab - March 18, 2024