Do business and economics studies erode prosocial values?

Mattias Sundemo () and Åsa Löfgren ()
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Mattias Sundemo: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: P.O. Box 640, SE 40530 GÖTEBORG, Sweden, http://economics.gu.se
Åsa Löfgren: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: P.O. Box 640, SE 40530 GÖTEBORG, Sweden, http://economics.gu.se

No 827, Working Papers in Economics from University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics

Abstract: Does exposure to business and economics education make students less prosocial and more selfish? Employing adifference-in-difference strategy with panel-data from three subsequent cohorts of students enrolled in a Business and Economics bachelor’s program (>900 students), we find that business and economics students become less prosocial over time relative to a control group of comparable students. Importantly, younger students appear to be significantly more malleable with respect to their to prosocial values. Furthermore, we observe heterogeneous effects across majors such as accounting, finance, and economics. Our research demonstrates a strong correlation between prosocial values and generous behavior.

Keywords: indoctrination; education; selection effect; economics education; business education; gender; prosociality; prosocial behavior; self-interest (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A22 D91 I23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2022-10, Revised 2024-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-edu and nep-eur
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