Research

CEAE Links

The Center for Experimental and Applied Economics homepage.
CEAE works with collaborators across the country.
Using the scientific process of laboratory control and replication to study the critical causal relationships of economic behavior and to design improved policy, markets, and products that benefit individuals and society. To learn more about our research, follow the link above.
View these videos using the link to the playlist above.
Calendar and reservation information in the Center for Experimental and Applied Economics.
Center for Applied and Experimental Research tent at AG Day

Overview

UD's Center for Experimental and Applied Economics uses the scientific process of laboratory control and replication to study the critical causal relationships of economic behavior and to design improved policy, markets, and products that benefit individuals and society. We find our research to be at the nexus of Agriculture and the Environment.

The CEAE further’s UD’s land-grant mission. We have powerful partners in research and outreach, as a part of two national Centers of Excellence, the USDA ERS funded national Center for Behavioral and Experimental Agri-Environmental Research (CBEAR) and CONSERVE (COordinating Nontraditional Sustainable watER use in Variable climatEs): A Center of Excellence at the Nexus of Sustainable Water Reuse, Food and Health. In addition, we partner extensively with Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN).

The CEAE has received more than $70 million in external funding since its founding in 2007. Our research projects are funded by a number of federal, state, and non-profit funders, including:

  • Delaware Sea Grant
  • Delaware Economic Development Office
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • National Science Foundation
  • Northeast Center for Risk Management
  • USDA Economic Research Service
  • USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture
  • USDA HATCH
  • US Forest Service
  • William Penn Foundation

We have had publications in top peer-reviewed journals, with more than 100 publications since 2007, and many more in development and currently under review.

VIEW WORKING PAPERS IN THE
UDSPACE INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY

Scroll through a list of recent publications

CEAE in the news
  • Engaging in applied economics

    November 09, 2023 | Written by Katie Peikes
    The field of economics historically has had disproportionately fewer women than men as well as a lack of minority representation. A 2020 economics panel at the Allied Social Science Associations annual meeting said reforms to introductory courses could help solve this problem. Work the University of Delaware’s Center for Experimental and Applied Economics is doing with students before college could be key to getting over this hurdle.
  • In Georgia auction, farmers place bids to use less water

    September 01, 2023 | Written by Molly Samuel of WABE
    The Center for Applied and Experimental Economics at UD worked with the Water Planning and Policy Center in Georgia to help develop an experimental auction for farmers to bid in. The prize for the winners is a commitment to not water some of their crops – or to water them less – when drought hits.
  • Agricultural policy making

    August 21, 2023 | Written by Katie Peikes
    UD’s Kent Messer and Leah Palm-Forster are co-authors on a paper that analyzed six research projects to argue that involving stakeholders in the process of creating economic experiments can lead to more acceptance of studies’ results.