Economics Department Working Paper Series
Working Paper Number
2021-07
Publication Date
2021
Abstract
It is widely held that studying economics makes you more selfish and politically conservative. We use a difference-in-differences strategy to disentangle the causal impact of economics education from selection effects. We estimate the effect of four different intermediate microeconomics courses on students’ experimentally elicited social preferences and beliefs about others, and policy opinions. We find no discernible effect of studying economics (whatever the course content) on self-interest or beliefs about others’ self-interest. Results on policy preferences also point to little effect, except that economics may make students somewhat less opposed to highly restrictive immigration policies.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/22461478
License
UMass Amherst Open Access Policy
Recommended Citation
Girardi, Daniele; Madhurika Mamunuru, Sai; Halliday, Simon D.; and Bowles, Samuel, "Does Economics Make You Selfish?" (2021). Economics Department Working Paper Series. 304.
https://doi.org/10.7275/22461478