Are Business Students More Self-Interested Than Law Students? A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Substantial academic debate exists regarding whether students with economics training exhibit distinct behavioral patterns that differentiate them from students in other academic disciplines. On one hand, the debate remains open due to the heterogeneity of the results. On the other hand, establishing the reasons for these possible differences is complicated. The existing academic literature proposes two explanatory hypotheses: self-selection and indoctrination. Most of the current results support a self-selection effect and reject indoctrination. Despite this, most studies present methodological limitations that should be considered. This study aims to address and overcome these limitations. To enhance our understanding of the potential effects stemming from economic training, it contributes to the existing literature in three main ways: Firstly, it conducts a longitudinal study of self- and other-interested behavior in university students following a standard microeconomics course. Secondly, it employs a novel instrument to measure self- and other-interest, with strong psychometric properties of validity and reliability. Thirdly, the sample is limited to business and law students to ensure homogeneity in the comparison. Our results suggest the existence of behavioral differences, mainly due to the self-selection effect. No evidence was found to suggest an indoctrination effect from the study of microeconomics.