Research grant to extend experiments on group decisions in spatial planning

The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation awarded a research grant of $10.000 to Rutger van Bergem, Sander Renes, and their co-authors from Chapman University for their project: ‘New Rules for Efficient and Equitable Land Use: An Experimental Investigation’. The grant will extend their experiments on group decision-making in spatial planning. 

The experiments ask attendees to participate in a group decision game about a spatial planning problem, such as the introduction of a solar park in their neighborhood. The researchers will compare several decision mechanisms such as voting and information markets to see how the outcomes compare in terms of efficiency and fairness. 

Apart from the academic relevance, the experiments will serve as a pilot of TPM’s new experimental and behavioral lab facilities: the Interdisciplinary center for Behavioral Experiments (IBEX). If the behavioral lab passes this hurdle, IBEX will be added to the research facilities available to TPM researchers for behavioral or economic experiments. 

About the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation

The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation is committed to realizing Henry George’s vision of a world in which progress does not beget poverty, but instead eliminates it through just public policies that recognize the basic equality of all people, our common claim to the Earth’s resources, and the inherent value of community.