Los Angeles Behavioral Economics Laboratory

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The Los Angeles Behavioral Economics Laboratory (LABEL) is dedicated to the study of decision-making

LABEL studies individual decision-making and strategic interactions through controlled experiments. We focus on understanding the motivations of choices and we use a variety of techniques to collect `non choice' data, including reaction times and physiological responses. Most of our studies take place at USC with participants from our LABEL - USC subject pool. We also work in partnership with other laboratories and institutions to study behavior over the life cycle.

10/02/2026

🎓 LABEL ECON 693 Seminar Series

Today, we had the pleasure of welcoming Ned Augenblick (UC Berkeley) for a discussion on how people form beliefs about a complex world.

We often rely on simplifying assumptions to make predictions. But what happens when different people choose different plausible models?

His research shows how this can lead to both overprecision, meaning underestimating uncertainty, and disagreement, as people arrive at different predictions. In an experiment, participants viewed scatterplots and estimated outcomes beyond the displayed data. Similar patterns appeared in the Survey of Professional Forecasters.

Our confidence in a prediction can depend on assumptions we may not even realize we are making.

🌟 Thank you to our speaker and to everyone who joined us for the seminar!

09/24/2026

📰 A look back at LABEL’s May 2026 newsletter!

We’re sharing a few pages from the issue today.

Swipe through the screenshots, then read the full newsletter here:https://label-laboratory.org/Newsletters/May_2026.pdf

09/17/2026

🎓 2026–2027 LABEL Training Program!

We are delighted to welcome 17 talented students this academic year.

Throughout the program, students will gain hands-on exposure to behavioral economics and the research process. They will read and submit summaries of academic papers, attend seminars and conferences, and contribute to the LABEL High School Journal and our newsletter.

We look forward to working with them throughout the academic year!

09/03/2026

🌟 Meet Arnav Gupta, one of our LABEL summer students!
We’re happy to have him as part of the LABEL community!

08/27/2026

🎓 LABEL ECON 693 Seminar: First Session of the Semester!

Today we had the pleasure of welcoming Itiel Dror for a fascinating discussion on cognitive bias and expert decision-making entitled “When Experts Make Errors: The Role of Context in Decision-Making.”

In a study with expert latent fingerprint examiners, researchers presented experts with fingerprints from real criminal cases that the same experts had evaluated previously. This time, however, some of the fingerprints were accompanied by biasing contextual information.

We learned that two-thirds of the experts made decisions that were inconsistent with their own previous judgments. This is a powerful reminder that expertise does not make us immune to cognitive bias. Even highly trained professionals can be influenced by contextual information, sometimes without realizing it.

And the implications go far beyond fingerprint analysis. Similar cognitive vulnerabilities can matter wherever expert judgment plays a critical role: forensic science, medicine, law enforcement, research, and many other fields.

One sentence from the seminar captured our attention:
“The most consistent finding in forensic science is inconsistency.”

An important reminder that improving decisions is not only about having more expertise, it is also about understanding how the human mind processes information and how context shapes judgment.

🌟 A big thank you to our speaker and to everyone who joined us to launch the LABEL Seminar Series!

08/24/2026

🌱 A New Academic Year, A New Beginning 🌅

A beautiful sunrise, a new leaf growing on a branch, a seed planted in the soil they are all signs of a new beginning.

As a new academic year begins, we look back with gratitude. We remember the inspiring seminars, the students who became part of our journey, the experiments and research we conducted across countries, the collaborations we built, and the many moments that made the past year meaningful.

And now, a new chapter begins. Every new beginning brings its own joy, energy, opportunities, and challenges. It invites us to keep learning, exploring, collaborating, and growing together.

As it is beautifully said, do not dwell on what has passed something new is already beginning. So, we move forward with curiosity and enthusiasm for what this new academic year will bring: new ideas, new questions, new discoveries and new possibilities.

The LABEL Team wishes everyone a wonderful and successful new academic year. May it be filled with meaningful discoveries, inspiring encounters, beautiful opportunities, and new directions.

Here’s to new beginnings. 🌱

All the best,

The LABEL Team

05/21/2026

📍 Understanding protest behavior through experimental research in Madagascar.

📊 Over the past days, we conducted some of the first experimental economics sessions organized by with more than 600 university students ranging from first-year to fifth-year students.

Participants took part in an interactive protest experiment designed to study how individuals make collective decisions, react to inequality, and coordinate with others under uncertainty.

🧠 Protests have become an increasingly visible form of civic and political expression across the world, including in Madagascar, whose political history has been shaped by periods of social mobilization and collective action.

Yet protests are often portrayed as spontaneous reactions rather than as deliberate decisions influenced by legitimacy, fairness, social context, perceived risks, and expectations about others’ behavior. A recent and important example in Madagascar was the Gen Z mobilization of September 25th, which contributed to major political changes and highlighted once again the importance of understanding how collective action emerges and spreads within society.

These first sessions represent an important step toward developing behavioral and experimental research at MABEL and creating more opportunities for students to participate directly in international scientific projects.

🌍 Understanding decisions. Improving policy. Madagascar

science

05/15/2026

🌍 What started as an idea in 2022 has now become reality.

We are proud to introduce MABEL, the University Magis Behavioral Lab at the U- Magis Madagascar, developed in collaboration with LABEL at the University of Southern California and the Loyola Behavioral Lab.

🧠 After running our first large-scale behavioral experiments with Malagasy students in 2024 , we hope to contribute to research, experimentation, and scientific collaboration in Madagascar.

🌍MABEL was created with a simple mission: to contribute to better public policy and sustainable development in Madagascar using controlled experiments.

A lot still remains to be done, but this is an important first step.

ExperimentalEconomics

04/08/2026

🎓 LABEL Behavioral Lab: Experiments with Kids

Our team conducted experiments with 3rd and 4th grade students at LYCEE INTERNATIONAL DE LOS ANGELES 👧👦 running a Contagion Experiment. Through this, we study: strategic behavior, contagion dynamics and the role of cognition in decision-making.
Understanding decision-making early in life helps us uncover how strategic thinking, risk, and social interactions develop.

Amazing engagement and intuition from the students throughout the sessions.
A big thank you to the students, teachers, and staff for making this possible!

Address

Department Of Economics/University Of Southern California/3620 South Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA
CA90089-0253

Website

http://label-laboratory.org/

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