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While the topics of the three essays in thisdissertation vary widely, the methodology and purposeof each chapter is common. Laboratory methods areemployed to better understand how people respond toincentives, adding to the ability of economics toexplain human behavior. The first essay seeks todetermine whether potential sellers are able toanticipate and take advantage of the ?Winner?sCurse?. The second essay involves an experimentaltest of Gary Becker?s rational criminal behaviortheory using a revealed preference framework in thespirit of the practical economics started by PaulSamuelson. I find that choices are consistent withrevealed preference axioms, and thus rational,allowing for estimation of demand for stolen loot.This further lends support to the idea that economicmodels can explain criminal behavior. The thirdessay presents an experiment designed to determinethe effects of contract convexity on an executive?sdecision making process, relative to anexpected-value equivalent linear contract.

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Dr. Visser is Assistant Professor of Economics at Sonoma StateUniversity in Northern California, where he teaches courses onmicroeconomics, game theory, and industrial organization. Hisprimary research interests lie in the area of exploring socialpreferences using experimental methodologies.

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