The differing role of experimentation in economics and in management studies

The history of experimentation differs strongly between economics and management studies. Until recently, most economists looked with uncertainty or even suspicion on experiments, while practitioners of management studies were prepared to explore the empirical scope of these in various ways. But nowadays, economics seems also to be turning to experimentation. It would be mistaken to underestimate the chances of scientific experiments managing to bridge the gulf that still divides economics from management studies, in methodology and in theoretical thinking. The article examines how this isolation arose and how experimentation may bring them closer together.