Opening Workshop
On April 3, 2012, the School of Business and Economics at RWTH Aachen celebrated the opening of its laboratory for Economic Research - AIXperiment - with a Workshop on Experimental Economic Research. Forty special guests, cordially invited by Prof. Dr. Christine Harbring, head of the Chair of Organization, attended the event in the pleasant surroundings of the RWTH Guest House at Königshügel. The Dean, Prof. Dr. Oliver Lorz, was able to welcome economic scientists from schools and faculties in Cologne, Bonn, Duisburg-Essen, Paderborn, and Maastricht in addition to those from Aachen. Presentations were given by Prof. Dr. Kyle Hyndman from Maastricht University and Prof.. Dr. Bernd Irlenbusch from the University of Cologne, and Prof. Dr. Reinhard Madlener and Jun.-Prof. Dr. Marion Ott spoke on current experimental research studies. After the lunchbreak, a tour was made of the newly opened laboratory in Aachen's Locherstrasse, and the guests were able to take part in a test experiment.
Experimental economic research has been experiencing a real boom in the last 10 years in Germany, a fact that Prof. Dr. Harbring impressively brought home to her listeners during her welcome address. Although the EconLab laboratory in Bonn - created in 1984 by the Nobel prize winner Prof. em. Dr. h.c. mult. Reinhard Selten - was for a long time the only one of its kind in the country, currently there are 28 laboratories in Germany, 23 of which have come into existence only since 2000. In economic experiments, economically relevant decision situations are simulated simply, in order to observe human behavior in these situations under controlled conditions. Since the beginning of 2012, RWTH Aachen University also has its own economic research laboratory. Prof. Dr. Madlener spoke of its being "a milestone in the history of the School of Business and Economics at RWTH Aachen University". Prof. Dr. Harbring expressed her gratitude to Prof. Dr. Alwine Mohnen, who had initiated plans for the laboratory in 2010, but who had since moved to Munich to take up a professorship there. In October 2013, Prof. Dr. Özgür Gürerk from the newly established Chair of Experimental Economics became the new director of AIXperiment.
With its 30 networked computers and a server room, AIXperiment offers scientists an excellent environment for their experiments, although students may also make use of the laboratory for, e.g., conducting research for their theses. Anybody interested in being a (usually remunerated) testperson can find further information and a link for registering at www.aixperiment.net. Contact persons at the Chair of Experimental Economics are Prof. Dr. Özgür Gürerk and the manager of the laboratory, Martin Scheuermann