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Two Concerns about Rational Choice: Indoctrination and Imperialism

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Author Info
Bruno S. Frey
Stephan Meier

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Abstract

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 University of Zurich. The analysis of the very large panel data set reaches significant different results than previous studies: Rational Choice Theory does not indoctrinate students. However, there are good other reasons to criticize Rational Choice Theory. The paper argues that ideas from other social sciences should be imported to improve the theory. Three elements are presented which lead to new and different policy conclusions.

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Paper provided by Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW in its series IEW - Working Papers with number iewwp104.

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Handle: RePEc:zur:iewwpx:104

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Related research
Keywords: Rational Choice; Public Goods; Giving Behavior; Education; Behavioral Economics;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
A20 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - General
H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  8. Bruno S. Frey & Stephan Meier, . "Political Economists are Neither Selfish nor Indoctrinated," IEW - Working Papers iewwp069, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Frank, Robert H & Gilovich, Thomas & Regan, Dennis T, 1993. "Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 159-71, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Jones, Philip & Hudson, John, 2000. "Civic Duty and Expressive Voting: Is Virtue Its Own Reward?," Kyklos, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(1), pages 3-16.
  19. Edward P. Lazear, 2000. "Economic Imperialism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 115(1), pages 99-146, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Bruno S. Frey & Matthias Benz, . "From Imperialism to Inspiration: A Survey of Economics and Psychology," IEW - Working Papers iewwp118, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  2. Bruno S. Frey, . "Publishing as Prostitution? Choosing Between One‘s Own Ideas and Academic Failure," IEW - Working Papers iewwp117, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  3. Anke Gerber & Marc Oliver Bettzüge, . "Evolutionary Choice of Markets," IEW - Working Papers iewwp109, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  4. Bruno S. Frey & Stephan Meier, . "Museums between Private and Public - The Case of the Beyeler Museum in Basle," IEW - Working Papers iewwp116, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  5. Reto Föllmi & Urs Meister, . "Product-Market Competition in the Water Industry: Voluntarily Nondiscriminatory Pricing," IEW - Working Papers iewwp115, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Simon Gächter & Ernst Fehr, . "Fairness in the Labour Market – A Survey of Experimental Results," IEW - Working Papers iewwp114, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-26.

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