Are Economists Human?

Howard Margolis

No 602, Working Papers from Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago

Abstract: A controversy among economists and others interested in the limits of rational choice analysis, still running after an onset at least two decades ago, concerns whether intelligent people, and especially experts, can be subject to cognitive illusions. This note provides a striking illustration supporting that disconcerting conjecture. It analyzes the apparent inability of professional economists to give a better than chance response to a very elementary question about consumer surplus.

Keywords: rational choice analysis; cognitive illusions; consumer surplus; economists (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-02
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