Details
Study title
EN
DE
Are Political Economists Selfish and Indoctrinated?
Ref study 7388
Study language German
Contributing institutions
Authors
Keywords
  • Öffentliche güter
  • Ökonomen
  • Spendeverhalten
Disciplines
Period
Geographical space
Country
Abstract
DE
Most professional economists believe that economists in general are more selfish than other persons 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 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.
Results
Methods (description)
DE
Multiple Regressionsanalyse

Erhebungsverfahren: Sekundäranalyse von Individualdaten
Methods (instruments)
Replicated study No
Unpublished documents
  • Frey, Bruno S.. 2000. Political economists are neither selfish nor indoctrinated. In: Institute for Empirical Research in Economics WP No. 69, 2000.
Financed by
Ethical approval No
Study type
Data availability
Source (Updates) Web
Date created 31.01.2002
Date modified 31.01.2002
Start - End date 01.12.2000 - 28.12.2003