Situation-Specific Morality of Economists and Noneconomists: Empirical Findings and the Question of Professional Ethics

• In Event: 53.081 - Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: 53.081-8 - Moral Development and Professional Ethics

Abstract

It is well known that students of economics and business administration act more selfishly in various experiments than students of other subjects. However, it has never been asked, how people actually take their decisions and what is really appropriate. We know that people use moral principles in a situation-specific manner. Students of economics and business administration, of business and economics education, and of non-economic subjects have been assessed in this respect, using the prisoner’s dilemma in two different frames and questioning the participants for reasons and feelings. The results confirm the general finding that economists tend to act more selfishly, but that only part of it can be attributed to a more selfish motivation.

Authors

• Gerhard Minnameier, University Frankfurt am Main

• Karin Heinrichs, Otto Friedrich University Bamberg