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Economists rarely lack cooperative attitudes but their less participation in social cause, compared to people from other fields of study, is noticeable. Dropped-letter experiment and classroom surveys demonstrate that elements of self-interest motivate the students of economics. They are likely to avoid responsibility in the matter of mutual dependence and expect others to act in the same manner in a similar situation.

A study was conducted to evaluate the impact of the self-interest model in economic studies on self-interested behavior of people. Results show that some economists do behave in self-interested ways while the suggested model does exhibit an influence on self-interested behavior. These results have substantiated evidence that economic training affects cooperativeness levels. However, the analysis may be limited to the probability that economists are more likely to free ride than other people.