Charles R. Plott, California Institute of Technology

Profile photo of Charles R. Plott, expert at California Institute of Technology

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Professor Pasadena, California cplott@hss.caltech.edu Office: (626) 395-4209

Bio/Research

Plott’s research has led to some of the most fundamental discoveries in economics and political science. In the general area of public economics and political science his work with Morris Fiorina was the first discovery of the equilibration tendencies of committees that operate under majority rul...

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Bio/Research

Plott’s research has led to some of the most fundamental discoveries in economics and political science. In the general area of public economics and political science his work with Morris Fiorina was the first discovery of the equilibration tendencies of committees that operate under majority rule. He was the first to report the equilibrating tendencies of two and three party elections in experiments. His research was the first to demonstrate the circumstances in which the classical "free riding phenomena can be observed. In economics his work with Vernon Smith led to the discovery of the "posted price effect" and to the measurement of efficiency in experimental markets, both of which are central to the foundations of policy related experimental work on market institutions.

More recently Professor Plott has been focused on two major issues. The first is the design of information aggregation mechanisms. These are mechanisms that depend upon the classical notion of rational expectations and are implemented for the purpose o f gathering useful information that is otherwise scattered across individuals in the form of intuitions and opinions. The second issue is the design of experimental tools to conduct large and world wide experiments. Already experiments that use people from around the world participating in a single market have been successfully conducted. This type of methodology promises to open new horizons to experimentalists.


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