Is free ice cream better than free money?

I can't post on Felix Salmon's blog, so here's a comment I wanted to write on this amusing post about free ice cream:
The answer to 65% of all thought experiments on economics blogs: selection effect.
The "you" to whom Dan's question is addressed is a different set of people to the "they" who'd turn up for a free cash offer.
Though of course, there is a bit of a framing effect too.
The question of demographic effects in behavioural experiments is underinvestigated (though there are a few papers about cultural differences, especially in the ultimatum game).

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