How Tempting is Corruption? This study argues that economists self-select for corruption. In other words, corrupt people want to be economists: "In this paper, we report on an experiment on corruption which investigates various determinants of corruptibility. We find that economics students are significantly more corrupt than others, which is due to self-selection rather than indoctrination. Moreover, our results vary with gender. Also, agents are no less corrupt if rewarded in addition to, and independently of, a possible bribe. Our experiment isolates the influence of self-interest on cooperation from other influences such as risk attitude and expectations regarding the behavior of others." How Tempting is Corruption? More Bad News About Economists, by Björn Frank, University of Hohenheim and Günther G. Schulze, University of Konstanz, April 1998 http://www1.gwdg.de/~uwvw/Research_area/Frank/experiment.html Jay ------------------------- COMING SOON TO A LOCATION NEAR YOU! http://dieoff.com/page1.htm
