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On the Validity of the Random Lottery Incentive System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Robin P. Cubitt ,
Chris Starmer  and
Robert Sugden
Robin P. Cubitt
Affiliation:
School of Economic and Social Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, England
Chris Starmer
Affiliation:
School of Economic and Social Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, England
Robert Sugden
Affiliation:
School of Economic and Social Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, England
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Abstract

The random lottery incentive system is widely used in experimental economics to motivate subjects. This paper investigates its validity. It reports three experiments which compare responses given to decision tasks which are embedded in random lottery designs with responses in ‘single choice’ designs in which each subject faces just one task for real. The experiments were designed to detect cross-task contamination effects in the random lottery treatment. No significant differences between treatments, and no significant contamination effects, were found. Over the three experiments, observed differences between the treatments are adequately explained as sampling variation.

Keywords

random lottery incentive system

JEL classification

C91: Laboratory, Individual Behavior C90: General

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , September 1998 , pp. 115 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 Economic Science Association

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