Do Economists Punish Less?

Jonas Pilgaard Kaiser, Kasper Selmar Pedersen and Alexander Koch
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Jonas Pilgaard Kaiser: Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University, Aarhus V 8210, Denmark
Kasper Selmar Pedersen: Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University, Aarhus V 8210, Denmark

Games, 2018, vol. 9, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: A number of studies discuss whether and how economists differ from other disciplines in the amount that they contribute to public goods. We view this debate as incomplete because it neglects the willingness to sanction non-cooperative behavior, which is crucial for maintaining social order and for sustaining the provision of public goods. We study the decision whether to engage in costly punishment of a free rider in a survey-based experiment with 1423 students from seven study areas in the social sciences, as well as medicine at Aarhus University, Denmark. Using a dictator game and a social dilemma game, that captures essential features of the public goods game, we replicate previous findings that economics students give significantly less than students from other disciplines. However, when subjects decide whether or not to punish a free rider, we find that economics students are just as likely to punish as students from other disciplines.

Keywords: social preferences; punishment; public goods game; dictator game; norm compliance; experimental economics; economists (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C C7 C70 C71 C72 C73 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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