The Disciplinary Mobility of Core Behavioral Economists

Abstract

Disciplinary mobility occurs when researchers publish outside their disciplines of origin. It is an important mechanism of interdisciplinarity and knowledge transfer. Behavioral economics (BE) was founded by two psychologists, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, who used disciplinary mobility to influence economics. In this article, we study the disciplinary mobility of seven core behavioral economists to better understand how it has influenced the early development of BE and the interdisciplinary practices of later behavioral economists. Besides the movement of psychologists towards the center of economics, we identify an outward movement of economists away from the discipline. This movement away from economics has allowed some behavioral economists to gain new scientific legitimacy, while escaping some of the normative traditions of economics. This has enabled them to push the frontiers of economics and promote a more radical approach to BE.