Friends, I just read na article in "Lingua Franca" by Rick Perlstein (I think he is also going to do an articel on Bowles and Gintis) on experimental economics. The results of the experimentalists seem to me to be pretty thin. They appear to show that how people behave depnds in large part on the institutinal setting in which they find themselves. Can anyone on the list provide some insights into this field of economics. My alma mater (U. of Pittsburgh) is home to two of the stalwarts in this field, both of whom are paid well into the six figures for this stuff. On another matter, I have read "Moo" and found the economist to be pretty amusing. Many of my students do think of schooling as something to be purchased pure and simple. They also think that I come with the purchase and have a very limited right to get in the way of their obtaining the degree they have purchased. Generally speaking colleges are pretty debased places today, but is this new? Veblen was pointing this out a long time ago. Finally, I like to read novels set in academe (like Moo). I've read a lot of them, but I am always on the lookout for new ones. If you have any favorites, let me know. Michael Yates
