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

Catherine Eckel and Herbert Gintis

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2010, vol. 73, issue 1, 109-119

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.

Keywords: Inequality; aversion; Neoclassical; theory; Experimental; economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:73:y:2010:i:1:p:109-119

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