(Why) are Economists Different?

By G. Kirchgaessner. Social Science Research Network, 2005

137 citations recorded by the source corpus.

After presenting some casual evidence about the difference between economists and the rest of the population, first the survey and experimental evidence which has been presented on this topic during the last 20 years is discussed. But can these results really be transferred to real world situations? To show this, examples of referenda results in Switzerland are presented where the citizens decided against recommendations of most economists. But what is so particular in economic theory that causes these different convictions? Some explanations are given with respect to positive economic theory and with respect to the normative convictions of economists. The paper concludes with possible consequences which economists might draw.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Safety Research

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/77e19f3c53a8cf1c6468c758a88102939022d0ed

Citations in the corpus

• Expressive behavior in economics and politics (2010, unknown): “34 For an overview of the literature comparing behavior of economists and non-economists, see Kirchgässner (2005). content of utility, while non-economics students care more about expressive utility.”