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Selfish and Indoctrinated Economists?

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Abstract

Many people believe that economists in general are more selfish than other people and that this greater selfishness is due to economics education. This paper offers empirical evidence against this widely held belief. Using a unique data set on giving behaviour 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 behaviour of economists can be explained by a selection effect.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Empirical Economic Research, University of Zurich, Bluemlisalpstrasse, 10, 8006, Zurich, Switzerland

    Bruno S. Frey & Stephan Meier

Authors
  1. Bruno S. Frey
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  2. Stephan Meier
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Correspondence to Bruno S. Frey.

Additional information

JEL Classification: A13, A20, H41

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Frey, B.S., Meier, S. Selfish and Indoctrinated Economists?. Eur J Law Econ 19, 165–171 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-005-5425-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-005-5425-8

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