Of morals, markets and mice: Be careful drawing policy conclusions from experimental findings!

Friedrich Breyer and Joachim Weimann

European Journal of Political Economy, 2015, vol. 40, issue PB, 387-390

Abstract: Sometimes experimentalists draw far-reaching policy conclusions from their findings. However, this is dangerous if there is ambiguity with respect to the right interpretation of the results. A good example for this danger is the well-known study by Falk and Szech (Science, 2013), who conclude that “markets erode moral values”. If this were true, economists, who have emphasized the efficiency enhancing effects of markets for centuries, would have to reconsider their judgments fundamentally. In this note we demonstrate that the claim made by Falk and Szech is unfounded for at least four reasons and that their experimental results can be (and should be) interpreted, if anything, in the opposite way.

Keywords: Erosion of morals; Market ethics; Double auction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D03 D63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:poleco:v:40:y:2015:i:pb:p:387-390

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2015.06.003

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