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The present document analyzes the differences between economists and non-economists with respect to the valuation of various mechanisms for the allocation of a scarce resource, as well as the isolated influence of rational choice on the fairness judgment of economists. For this purpose, we conducted a survey based on Frey et al. (1993) and Haucap and Just (2010) among more than 600 students of different fields of studies from the University of Münster. As a result, we show that there are different attitudes depending on the field of study, especially with regard to the fairness of the market mechanism. This fact could mainly be explained by self-selection effects of economists. Furthermore, this article shows that indoctrination with rational choice had almost no effect on the judgment of economists. -- Economists vs. Non-economists ; Fairness ; Rational Choice ; Indoctrination ; Self-selection

SummaryThe present article analyzes the differences between economists and non‐economists with respect to observed corruption behavior used as a proxy for selfishness. For this purpose, I analyzed real world data of relating to the 109th–111th US Congress between 2005 and 2009, including 695 representatives and senators. I show that those who hold a degree in economics are significantly more prone to corruption than 'non‐economists'. These findings hence support the widespread, but controversial hypothesis in the 'economist vs. non‐economist literature' that economists lack what Frey and Meier (2004) call 'social behavior'. Moreover, by using real world data, these findings overcome the lack of external validity, which impact on the (low cost) experiments and surveys to date.

Zusammenfassung
Der vorliegende Beitrag analysiert Unterschiede zwischen Ökonomen und Nicht-Ökonomen im Hinblick auf die Bewertung verschiedener Mechanismen zur Allokation einer knappen Ressource sowie den isolierten Einfluss von Rational Choice auf die Einstellung von Ökonomen. Zu diesem Zweck führten wir basierend auf Frey et al. (1993) und Haucap und Just (2010) unter über 600 Studenten verschiedener Fachrichtungen der Universität Münster eine Umfrage durch. Es zeigt sich, dass sich abhängig von ihrer Fachrichtung unterschiedliche Ansichten insbesondere über die Fairness des Marktmechanismus ergeben. Hauptsächlich ist dies auf Selbstselektionseffekte unter den Ökonomen zurückzuführen. Eine Konfrontation mit Rational Choice, mit der wir die Indoktrination der Ökonomen messen, führte aber kaum zu Änderungen bei der Einstellung der Ökonomen.