Monozygotic twins or unrelated stepchildren? On the relationship between economic psychology and behavioral economics

Recent years have seen increased cooperation between psychologists and economists. This is mirrored in interdisciplinary journals (like the Journal of Economic Psychology or the Journal of Socio-Economics) as well as in interdisciplinary conferences. During one of these conferences, The IAREP/SABE conference in Cologne in 2010, a group of scholars in behavioral economics and economic psychology sought to evaluate this cooperation. This article summarizes the most important aspects of that discussion, touching on the following topics: (1) How has the cooperation between both disciplines evolved over recent decades? (2) Is cooperation hindered by different concepts and ethics of doing empirical research? (3) Do both disciplines want to change reality or do they just want to describe and explain the phenomena that they study? (4) How could the two disciplines enter into an even more fruitful cooperation?