Journal of Economic Perspectives
ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)
Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation?
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 7,
no. 2, Spring 1993
(pp. 159–171)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
In this paper we investigate whether exposure to the self-interest model commonly used in economics alters the extent to which people behave in self-interested ways. First, we report the results of several empirical studies—some our own, some by others—that suggest economists behave in more self-interested ways. By itself, this evidence does not demonstrate that exposure to the self-interest model causes more self-interested behavior, since it may be that economists were simply more self-interested to begin with, and this difference was one reason they chose to study economics. Second, we present preliminary evidence that exposure to the self-interest model does in fact encourage self-interested behavior.Citation
Frank, Robert H., Thomas Gilovich, and Dennis T. Regan. 1993. "Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation?" Journal of Economic Perspectives 7 (2): 159–171. DOI: 10.1257/jep.7.2.159JEL Classification
- A11 Role of Economics; Role of Economists
- A13 Relation of Economics to Social Values