University students, economics education, and self-interest. A systematic literature review

Abstract

There is an open debate in academia about whether economics students behave in a more self-interested manner than non-economics students. This debate is based on the assumption that economics students are exposed to the study of standard economic models. These models begin with a representative agent, the homo œconomicus, which is a rational optimizer that serves to satisfy their own self-interest. A systematic review was conducted to enhance this debate. Empirical studies that tested the existence of behavioral and/or attitudinal differences related to self-interest among university economics and non-economics students were included. The results provide evidence that economics students are more self-interested than non-economics students. This review has allowed us to highlight the limitations of the pre-existing scientific papers published to date. Primarily, the majority of studies have used cross-sectional data, and it is advisable to carry out more studies with longitudinal data.