Economists praise the efficiency of the price mechanism in allocating scarce resources. Others, however, often reject it as unfair. In this study, we investigate the extent to which economists also differ from non-economists in how they value the fairness of the price system, and examine how...

In this paper, we examine students' attitudes towards various allocation mechanisms for a scarce resource. For this purpose, we have run a survey among officers of the German military who are enrolled in different courses of study (such as economics) at the University of the German Federal Armed...

Economists praise the efficiency of the price mechanism in allocating scarce resources. Others, however, often reject it as unfair. In this study, we investigate the extent to which economists also differ from non-economists in how they value the fairness of the price system, and examine how...

Ergänzend zu den Beiträgen im ifo Schnelldienst Nr. 14/2009 äußerst sich Justus Haucap, Universität Düsseldorf, zum »Methodenstreit« in der VWL. Exzellente Ökonomen sollten, seiner Meinung nach, alles beherrschen: Theorie, Empirie und institutionelle Kenntnisse: »Weil wir aber nicht...

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...

Rational Choice Theory is often criticized to indoctrinate students in a negative, which is supported by some laboratory experiments. But do students of Rational Choice Theory really behave more selfishly? This paper presents evidence from a natural decision on voluntary donation at the...

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...

Most professional economists believe that economist in general are more selfish than other persons and that this greater selfishness is due to economic education. In this paper we offer empirical evidence against this widely held belief. Using a unique data set about giving behaviour to two...

In this paper, we examine students' attitudes towards various allocation mechanisms for a scarce resource. For this purpose, we have run a survey among officers of the German military who are enrolled in different courses of study (such as economics) at the University of the German Federal Armed...

Ergänzend zu den Beiträgen im ifo Schnelldienst Nr. 14/2009 äußerst sich Justus Haucap, Universität Düsseldorf, zum »Methodenstreit« in der VWL. Exzellente Ökonomen sollten, seiner Meinung nach, alles beherrschen: Theorie, Empirie und institutionelle Kenntnisse: »Weil wir aber nicht...