Lay Beliefs About Homo Economicus: How and Why Does Economics Education Make Us See Honesty as Effortful?

Repeated business scandals have raised concerns about the possible role that specializing in economics plays in individual morality. We explored whether and how economics specialization is positively related to unethical behavior through the lay belief that honesty is effortful. We found that people who specialized in economics were more likely to hold the belief that honesty takes effort-a finding that was consistent across three independent samples (n = 1,561) including a large, nationally representative sample. We also found in Studies 2 and 3 that beliefs about honesty as effortful behavior mediated the relationship between economics specialization and the willingness to engage in unethical behavior, suggesting that economics specialization influences unethical behavior through an implicit pathway. Lastly, we found in Study 3 that economics specialization led people to hold beliefs about honesty as effortful behavior because it made them more utilitarian in their decision-making. We call for business schools to do more to encourage students to question the assumptions underlying the theories they are taught and to broaden their perspectives beyond economic and utilitarian considerations.