Social Loafing

In economics, Game Theory suggests that a free rider will share in the benefits of a group project.  This morning I was researching social interaction and attachment to a group, when I saw the term, "social loafing" used to mean the same thing. From the Wikipedia page,  "In the social psychology of groups, social loafing is the phenomenon of people exerting less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when they work alone."

 How far away in conclusions are psychology and economics?

I think economics attempts to measure well-defined tastes and preferences whereas psychology tries to measure the holistic mind including perceptions.  I think economics comes to a clearer prediction of human behavior when it comes to rational decision making.  I am content to leave abnormal behavior to psychology.

In this cartoon, the artist infers that Germany and Holland have been a free rider on the back of Greece and have ridden it to death.  Germany is the horse that is still galloping and Greece is the free rider in my opinion.  I think you can now add France too.