10 minutes overview to z-tree

Outline of Presentation What is z-tree? What can it do? How does it work? When to use? Alternatives? A quick demo

An Introduction to Z-Tree Z-Tree is a free program used for conducting experiments. It has its own programming language (similar to C) Software Tutorial and Reference Manual available at Also check out the Course Website.

Z-Tree Software Features of Z-Tree include:  communication between the computers;  increased participation;  data saving;  less mistakes;  time management;  real-time info dissemination & analysis;  compute statistics (eg: profit);

How does it work? Ztree.exe Experimentor PC Auction.ztt Subject PCs Zleaf.exe Instructions, Parameters, results, Subject’s inputs Hard drive or server Experimental data

Quick notes… Ability to simulate z-tree and multiple copies of z-leaf on your laptop Ability to change the default language

Alternatives to Z-tree Paper and Pen MS Excel (shared workbook feature) MS Access

How easy is it to program in z- tree? Z-tree website claims: “A public good experiment, for instance, can be programmed within an hour, a double auction within a day.”

When to use z-tree Is the experiment sufficiently complicated (can “paper and pen” work?) MS Excel (robustness issue) Suggestion – use default templates with some “paper and pen” Dealing with “common knowledge” and “random choices”

Z-tree demo