It is an article for my experimental economy class to summary - Essay Example

Summary: Are Economists Different and if so Why? Summary: Are Economists Different and if so Why? Economists are knownto have a distinctive approach to comprehending and interpreting the world. It has been subject to discussion whether or not economists have fundamental differences from non-economists. Ames and Marwell, following their study in a related subject, noted that graduate students taking economics engaged in free riding compared to other students (Carter and Irons 171). A study has been conducted to know if all economists behave in the same way as the none-economists or differently.

If any difference existed, the study was meant to give reasons as to why the economists behaved differently. Economists and none-economists students were selected for the study. The study was done in form of an experiment that required decision making within a period of about 30 minutes. It required the division of $10 in multiples of $0.50 between two people; a proposer and a responder. The proposer was to propose the division and the responder to decide if the division was acceptable or not.

Findings of the study From the study conducted by Carter John and Irons Michael it is noted that economists generally accept less from others and keep more to themselves as compared to the none-economists. When another variable that helps to identify freshman economists and freshman non- economists was added, the freshman economists were still found to hold to the perspective of accepting less from others and keeping more. Therefore economists are born and not man-made. A third variable was also added to differentiate between the senior economists and the senior none-economists.

This was meant to bring out any effects on the behavior of the economists as a result of learning economics. There were no clear learning effects realized from the experiment. Therefore, learning does not change the behavior of economists. The freshman economist and the senior economist all held the same perspective: They accept less and keep more to themselves (Carter and Irons 173). It was also realized that the choice of economics major students to major in economics was strongly related to their behavior.

It was also found out that the economists were not only skilled in self interest calculation as facilitated by their deductive reasoning needed to recognize and decide on opportunities for economic gain. Economists are better at the type of thought processes that are related to rationality. They were able to give good figure of what a responder should accept and what a proposer should propose so as to maximize their monetary wealth keeping in mind that their partners are also aiming at the same.

  The interesting feature of these results is the fact that economists accept less from others. This is interesting because the main aim of the game was to maximize one’s monetary wealth and this should have included accepting more from others as well as keeping more to oneself.There exists a difference between the economists and the none-economist. This difference is evident even before they can begin their studies on economics as evidenced by the behavioral similarities between the freshman and senior economic students.

It is therefore true to say that economists are different and their difference is naturally born and never man- made. One question that arises from this study is: what makes economists tend to accept less from others? Work CitedCarter John and Irons Michael. “Are Economists Different and if so Why”. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5(2): p171-177. 2007.