Why are those who study economics less philanthropic?

Just over a month ago (on October 29, to be precise) I had posted a piece arguing that the addition of business ethics courses by themselves cannot reverse the systematic brainwashing of students in anti-human values done by business schools; what is needed is systematic examination, critique and reform of the values taught by business school courses, and even by the existence of expensive and elitist business schools: http://prabhuguptara.blogspot.com/2011/10/role-of-business-schools-in-promoting.html

As you probably know, there has been research underway for some time on the question of why economics students donate less than those who do not study economics.

According to the latest published piece of research, if someone who is not a major in economics takes an introductory course in microeconomics, that reduces the likelihood of her/his donating money to nonprofits by 2 percent; to make matters worse, if that sort of person takes an intermediate course, the likelihood of her/his giving to nonprofits goes down by 3.7 to 7.9 percent.

That's in an article by Yoram Bauman and Elaina Rose of the University of Washington, published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, volume 79 (2011), pages 318-327: http://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v79y2011i3p318-327.html Sphere: Related Content