An Experimental Investigation of the Patterns of International Trade

This study is the first attempt to create and study a laboratory economy with some of the prominent features of an international economic system. The concept of multiple "countries" in which each country has its own technology, preferences and resource endowments, is introduced and operationalized. The questions posed in the study are related to the law of comparative advantage, factor price equalization, terms of trade, efficiency in production and exchange as guided by multiple and interacting markets and the effects of tariffs on international transactions. The study builds on previous work in the experimental study of general equilibrium phenomena