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Are Political Economists Selfish and Indoctrinated? Evidence from a Natural Experiment
Author(s) -
Frey Bruno S.,
Meier Stephan
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1093/ei/cbg020
Subject(s) - selfishness , economics , natural experiment , politics , positive economics , set (abstract data type) , empirical evidence , microeconomics , neoclassical economics , selection (genetic algorithm) , natural (archaeology) , public economics , social psychology , law , psychology , political science , epistemology , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , computer science , history , programming language , artificial intelligence , archaeology
Most professional economists believe that economists in general are more selfish than other people and that this increased selfishness is due to economics education. This article offers empirical evidence against this widely held belief. Using a unique data set about giving behavior in connection with two social funds at the University of Zurich, it is shown that economics education does not make people act more selfishly. Rather, this natural experiment suggests that the particular behavior of economists can be explained by a selection effect.