Chapter 3. Lab Labor: What Can Labor Economists Learn from the Lab This chapter surveys the contributions of laboratory experiments to labor economics. We begin with a discussion of methodological issues: when (and why) is a lab experiment the best approach; how do laboratory experiments compare to field experiments; and what are the main design issues We then summarize the substantive contributions of laboratory experiments to our understanding of principal agent interactions social preferences union firm bargaining arbitration gender differentials discrimination job search and labor markets more generally.