Z:gnu-www-ja-frank--b90712-In a further attempt to assess/en

In a further attempt to assess whether training in economics inhibits cooperation in social dilemmas, we posed a pair of ethical dilemmas to students in two introductory microeconomics courses at Cornell University and to a control group of students in an introductory astronomy course, also at Cornell. In one dilemma, the owner of a small business is shipped ten microcomputers but is billed for only nine and the question is whether the owner will inform the computer company of the error. Subjects are first asked to estimate the chances (0 - 100%) that the owner would point out the mistake, and then, on the same response scale, to indicate how likely they would be to point out the error if they were the owner. The second dilemma concerns whether a lost envelope containing $100 and bearing the owner's name and address is likely to be returned by the person who finds it. Subjects are first asked to imagine that they have lost the envelope and to estimate the likelihood that a stranger would return it. They are then asked to assume that the roles are reversed and to indicate the chances that they would return the money to a stranger.