Blaming the messenger: Notes on the current state of experimental economics Academic Article

abstract

• Binmore and Shaked (this issue) criticize Fehr and Schmidt's (1999) model of inequality aversion. We present a considerable body of experimental research supporting the inequality aversion motive. Binmore and Shaked also urge experimentalists to adopt "a more skeptical attitude when far-reaching claims about human behavior are extrapolated from very slender data." It is true that experimental findings indicate that the standard neoclassical model fails to predict a considerable range of strategic behaviors widely observed in the laboratory, particularly under conditions where normative behavior is prevalent in every-day social life. This is indeed a "far-reaching claim," but one amply justified by an impressive and constantly growing body of evidence from experiments. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

authors

• Eckel, Catherine

published proceedings

• JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR & ORGANIZATION

altmetric score

• 7.65

author list (cited authors)

• Eckel, C., & Gintis, H.

citation count

• 49

complete list of authors

• Eckel, Catherine||Gintis, Herbert

publication date

• January 2010

publisher

• Elsevier  Publisher

published in

• Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization  Journal

keywords

• Experimental Economics
• Inequality Aversion
• Neoclassical Theory

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1016/j.jebo.2009.03.026

start page

• 109

end page

• 119

volume

• 73

issue

• 1

URL

• http%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1016%2Fj.jebo.2009.03.026

user-defined tag

• 10 Reduced Inequalities