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Blaming the messenger: Notes on the current state of experimental economics

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  • Eckel, Catherine
  • Gintis, Herbert

Abstract

Binmore and Shaked (this issue) criticize Fehr and Schmidt's (1999) model of inequality aversion. We present a considerable body of experimental research supporting the inequality aversion motive. Binmore and Shaked also urge experimentalists to adopt "a more skeptical attitude when far-reaching claims about human behavior are extrapolated from very slender data." It is true that experimental findings indicate that the standard neoclassical model fails to predict a considerable range of strategic behaviors widely observed in the laboratory, particularly under conditions where normative behavior is prevalent in every-day social life. This is indeed a "far-reaching claim," but one amply justified by an impressive and constantly growing body of evidence from experiments.

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Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.

Volume (Year): 73 (2010)
Issue (Month): 1 (January)
Pages: 109-119

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Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:73:y:2010:i:1:p:109-119
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo

Keywords: Inequality aversion Neoclassical theory Experimental economics;

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Cited by:

  1. Ken Binmore, 2010. "Social norms or social preferences?," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 9(2), pages 139-157, December.
  2. Clark, Andrew E. & D'Ambrosio, Conchita, 2014. "Attitudes to Income Inequality: Experimental and Survey Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 8136, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  3. Doerrenberg, Philipp & Peichl, Andreas, 2010. "Progressive Taxation and Tax Morale," IZA Discussion Papers 5378, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  4. Herbert Gintis, 2011. "The future of behavioral game theory," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 10(2), pages 97-102, December.
  5. Leif Brandes & Donja Darai, 2014. "The value of top-down communication for organizational performance," ECON - Working Papers 157, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
  6. Dorian Jullien, 2016. "Under Uncertainty, Over Time and Regarding Other People: Rationality in 3D," GREDEG Working Papers 2016-20, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), University of Nice Sophia Antipolis.
  7. Tjøtta, Sigve, 2016. "You’ll never walk alone. An experimental study on receiving money," Working Papers in Economics 03/16, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.

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