Personal value priorities of economists

Abstract

Economists often play crucial roles in designing and implementing policies in the private and public sectors; thus it is important to better understand the values that underlie their decisions. We explore the value hierarchies that characterize economists in five studies. Findings indicate that students of economics attribute more importance to self-enhancement values and less importance to universalism values than students in other fields. This profile is already apparent at the beginning of the first year of study and persists throughout the degree. The values distinctive to economists are related to work-related perceptions and attitudes and hence may influence the policy decisions and recommendations of economists.