Experiments and Simulations in Political Science

Abstract

One of the major strengths of analytical politics and public choice is the coherent methodological approach. It works by combining the deduction of hypotheses from stringent theoretical models with the empirical testing of said hypotheses. This approach has been used to successfully study diverse phenomena in Political Science. The section “Advances in Analytical Politics and Public Choice” (S04) of which this panel is part helps to reflect on recent advances in the way in which the methodology of Analytical Politics and Public Choice is used to study political processes. The first panel will be a panel on experiments and simulations in public choice. From the beginning, experiments have played a major role in the testing of predictions derived from formal models. More recently, simulation studies have been used to derive predictions from formal models. The panel will explore recent advances in the intersection of the two approaches. We welcome papers dealing with at least one of the following topics: - theoretical discussion and methodological advancement of simulations and/or experiments as methods - application of simulations and/or experiments for model tests - contrasting experimental results and simulated data with each other and/or with empirical data.