Self-Selection And/Or Indoctrination in Econ Students

Currently, scholars from different fields of knowledge are trying to obtain answers as to whether Economics students are more self-interested than non-Economics students. It is even more complicated to establish the reasons for these possible differences. The existing academic literature basically puts forward two explanatory hypotheses, namely: a self-selection and/or indoctrination effect. Although most of the current results support a self-selection effect and reject an indoctrination effect, the above result should be welcomed with great caution due to methodological limitations to date. Consequently, this research aims to overcome these methodological limitations and to test whether there are behavioral differences in reference to self- and other-interest between Economic and non-Economics students. It aims to answer—if exist—whether the behavioral differences in Economics students are due to a self-selection and/or indoctrination effect once they have completed their studies in the Microeconomics course. The results of the present research suggest the existence of behavioral differences, and these are mainly due to a self-selection effect