Influences on the Development of Economic Knowledge over the First Academic Year

Abstract

Despite significant research, it remains unclear whether the goal of developing domain-specific knowledge in higher education is actually being achieved. This is also true for the internationally most popular study domain of business and economics. In Germany, a test for measuring economic knowledge was validated, enabling the analysis of change in knowledge over the course of studies. Business and economics students from across Germany were surveyed over the course of one study year: 7,111 beginning students in the winter term of 2016/2017, and 1,705 third semester students in the winter term of 2017/2018. Investigating the longitudinal matched sample of 734 students who took part at both measurement points, we found that economic knowledge developed slightly positively in the first year of study in economics. Prior economic knowledge, general intellectual ability and the courses attended are among the most important influencing factors of the knowledge test performance and grades after one academic year.