US releases Economics Education Report Card

The study conducted by the US. Dept. of Education is the first ever National Assessment of Educational Progress - and is a measure of national knowledge of economics by 12th graders in the US. I saw the Fed Reserve Chair from Minneapolis comment on the results...his assessment is rosier than mine. He says the fact that 42% of the sample were 'proficient' in economics is a "good base." I tend to look at the glass being half empty on this - there's a lot of room for improvement.

About 79% of students scored at the "basic" level - having a rudementary knowlege of some econ concepts. I don't think that is too bad, but again, still a lot of room for growth.

One of the more interesting findings is that males tend to only slightly outperform females in econ. I would expect that to be true given the more mathematical/logical nature of the way econ is often taught. But it's surprising to me how close the genders performed. I would have thought the gap to be much higher. I do think it is meaningful that the gap widens at the higher levels of proficiency - and I would expect this is a foreshadow of college results - as more math is applied to econ in advanced levels, males should tend to increasingly dominate.

The basic "scores" are as follows (discussing micro, macro, and international econ topics):

Market Economy

72% described a benefit and a risk of leaving a full-time job to further one’s education

52% identified how commercial banks use money deposited into customers’ checking accounts

46% interpreted a supply and demand graph to determine the effect of establishing a price control

36% used marginal analysis to determine how a business could maximize its profits

National Economy

60% identified factors that lead to an increase in the national debt

36% identified the federal government’s primary source of revenue

33% explained the effect of an increase in real interest rates on consumers’ borrowing

11% analyzed how a change in the unemployment rate affects income, spending, and production

International Economy

63% determined the impact of a decrease in oil production on oil-importing countries

51% determined a result of removing trade barriers between two countries

40% determined why industries can successfully lobby for tariff protection

32% identified how investment in education can impact economic growth

Download the whole report here.