Principles Of Economics Course Research Articles

Promoting Economic Literacy: Panel Discussion

Robert E. Lucas, Jr.:' January 2002 issue of the Atlantic contains an article by Benjamin Schwarz and Christopher Layne called A New Grand Strategy. article deplores the role of the United States in the Middle East, which the authors interpret as derived from a perceived need to ensure the availability of from that region. As the authors observe, America derives most of its from Alaska, Canada, the continental United States, Mexico, and Venezuela. About 25 percent of U.S. petroleum imports come from the Persian Gulf. If the United States adopted a national energy strategy it could free itself from dependence on Persian Gulf oil (p. 37). They go on to advocate doing this, and leaving Middle East politics to other, still dependent powers. They explain: The role the United States has assigned itself in the Persian Gulf has made it-not Japan, not the states of Western Europe, not China-vulnerable to a backlash (p. 38). Schwarz and Layne article is a good example of what W. Lee Hansen et al. (2002 [preceding paper, this issue]) call illiteracy. Its entire argument is based on the market for oil, but the authors do not have even an Economics 101 understanding of what a market is. They construct a vision of a new U.S. foreign policy based on a wholly arbitrary matching up of particular buyers of a homogeneous good with particular sellers of the good. We will exercise hegemony in Mexico and Venezuela, they say, and let the Japanese take care of the Middle East. example illustrates three points emphasized in Use or Lose It: Teaching Literacy in the Economics Principles Course (this issue, preceding paper). First, economic illiteracy often is an affliction of the well-educated: Schwarz and Layne are articulate experts in foreign affairs. Second, economic illiteracy can be dangerous: there is more at stake than bad answers to our exam questions. Third, the ignorance involved is not ignorance of the research tools of technical economics. should not be necessary to be handy with fixed-point theorems in order to avoid mistakes like the one Schwarz and Layne make. Use or Lose It has two main theses. first is that we can and should promote economic literacy by redesigning the first collegelevel economics course (one semester) to teach principles, not methods. second is that we can use a list of 20 Content Standards provided by the National Council on Economic Education to define what it means to teach principles. I have misgivings about both these theses, to which I turn in a moment. I must say at the outset, though, that my criticism will be almost entirely nonconstructive: I agree that introductory economics needs to be reinvented, but I do not claim to know how to do it. In criticizing introductory economics courses and textbooks, the authors lament the increasingly technical nature of the course and cite others who share this view. Nostalgia is expressed (in a quote from McConnell, not a direct statement by these authors) for a 1946 text of Frank Taussig's that predates even my ancient training by 15 years! would be hard to think of a surer way to discourage the most able students from pursuing a career in economics than to offer them a 50-year-old textbook on the grounds that P. J. O'Rourke did not like graphs. Imagine proposing such a thing to an association of physicists or chemists or, for that matter, musicologists! Knowledge is cumulative-a fact that should make us happy, not sad. One of our jobs as teachers is to help our most eager and creative students get to the knowledge frontier as fast as they want to go. In the natural sciences and the arts, introductory courses are professionally oriented basic-training courses on which one can build a creative career. Economics students deserve as much. problem with leaving the matter at this is that introductory science courses tend to be useless for nonmajors. Indeed, levels of physics literacy, chemistry literacy, and musical literacy among well-educated people are in no better shape than economics literacy. This is the classic case against letting each student design his 'Department of Economics, University of Chicago, 1126 East 59th St., Chicago, IL 60637.

Use It or Lose It: Teaching Literacy in the Economics Principles Course

Use It or Lose It: Teaching Literacy in the Economics Principles Course by W. Lee Hansen, Michael K. Salemi and John J. Siegfried. Published in volume 92, issue 2, pages 463-472 of American Economic Review, May 2002

Foreign GTAs Can Be Effective Teachers of Economics

The authors assess the impact of foreign graduate teaching associates (GTAs) on undergraduate economics instruction where the standard language for the majority of students is English. They find little evidence that foreign GTAs adversely affect grades in economics principles courses or students' choices of additional economics courses. In some cases, the impact of a foreign GTA is significantly positive. The authors consider a range of definitions of foreign, including nationality, language, and political background, and find the nonnegative foreign GTA effect to be robust. Their findings suggest that when foreign GTAs are properly screened and trained in spoken English and in teaching skills, they are at least as effective in providing economic education as GTAs from the United States.

Do Graphs Promote Learning in Principles of Economics?

The authors tested whether student performance in the principles of economics course is affected by the use of graphs as part of a lecture. They conducted two experiments at the University of South Carolina, one in spring 1995 and another in spring 1997. Students were randomly assigned to either a nographs lecture or a lecture with graphs. The main hypothesis was that students in the lectures with graphs would show higher gain scores than those in the nograph lectures (both lectures were videotaped). The authors found that students in the lecture with graphs in 1995 had significantly lower gain scores than those in the no-graphs lecture. For 1997, they found no significant differences in student performance between the two groups.

Are Student Ratings of Teaching Effectiveness Influenced by Instructors' English Language Proficiency?

We use data from norming the third edition of the Test of Understanding College Economics to exam ine whether instructors for whom English is a second language (ESLs) receive lower student ratings of teaching effectiveness in principles of economics courses, holding constant what students learn in the course. The results suggest that student ratings of ESL instructors are, on average, about 0.4 points lower, on a scale of 1.0 to 5.0, than the ratings of native English speaking instructors. Most of this deficit can be attributed to differences in how the two groups of instructors teach their courses and evaluate the knowledge of their students.

Improved knowledge of mathematics and enrolment in a principles of economics course: is there a link?

Improved knowledge of mathematics and enrolment in a principles of economics course: is there a link?

An Analysis of the Determinants of Student E-Mail Use

This article uses survey data from different economic principles courses to examine two related questions. First, the impact of certain variables is analyzed, including both student-specific characteristics and those of the student's economic principles course, regarding the frequency of e-mail use. Second, the article considers whether students view e-mail as a substitute for or complement to other methods of contacting faculty. No matter the frequency of use, e-mail appears to be a viable substitute. Only infrequent users, however, appear to view e-mail as a complement to existing means of contact.

An Experiment with Official and Parallel Foreign Exchange Markets in a Developing Country

This classroom experiment shows under what conditions the parallel market rate approximates the free-market value of the domestic currency. In addition, the experiment demonstrates how the existence of an official exchange rate may suppress international trade and promote corruption. Students take the roles of foreign exchange traders in a developing country. Their government desires a higher value for its currency than the market-clearing exchange rate. However, the government does not have foreign currency reserves to sell in order to maintain this value. Instead, it establishes an official foreign exchange market in which it trades some currency at the overvalued rate. In the official market, the quantity demanded of foreign currency exceeds the quantity supplied, so a parallel foreign exchange market with a floating rate handles the excess demand. Kiguel and O'Connell (1995) describe such dual exchange rate systems as common in developing countries. Typically, a developing country establishes an official market with an over-valued exchange rate to avoid the inflationary effects of a depreciation. Sometimes the government formally establishes a parallel foreign exchange market as well. For instance, developing countries often establish an official exchange rate for commercial transactions and a floating rate for financial transactions. In other cases, the parallel markets arise spontaneously, with varying degrees of tolerance from the government; these markets are called a gray market. If the government penalizes trade in the parallel market, it is called a black market. We used this experiment in a monetary theory course to introduce the role of supply and demand in foreign exchange markets and in a principles of economics course as part of a unit on the effects of government price controls. We also used an earlier version of the experiment in intermediate macroeconomics to introduce the various forms of foreign exchange regimes and in an openeconomy macroeconomics course to illustrate the economic effects of an overvalued currency in a developing country. Instructors could also use it for the financial section of an international economics course or in a course in development economics.

The Social Issues Pedagogy vs. The Traditional Principles of Economics: An Empirical Examination

Standardized test (TUCE) scores for students enrolled in a Social Issues course were compared to those of students in traditional Principles of Economics courses within the framework of a standard educational production function. The production function was estimated using Heckman's two-step procedure to correct for self-selection due to student attrition over the course of study. After controlling for student demographics, prior experiences, and academic aptitude, no significant test score differences were found between students in the Social Issues course and those in the Principles of Macroeconomics. However, Social Issues students were found to score significantly below students in the Principles of Microeconomics, ceteris paribus. The results also indicate that students had a higher probability of completion in the Social Issues course relative to a theory oriented Principles course.

A mathematical analysis of the learning production process and a model for determining what matters in education

This paper describes in both economic and mathematical terms the learning production process at the individual level and derives from that profile a model to determine which factors affect that process. The model is successfully tested using data from two widely divergent learning situations, ranging from lecture-oriented college level principles of economics courses to the use of programmed instruction to learn matrix arithmetic at the eighth grade level.

TEACHING TOOLS: SHOULD WE TEACH MICROECONOMIC PRINCIPLES BEFORE MACROECONOMIC PRINCIPLES?

No consensus exists about the optimal sequencing of economics principles courses. We show that most top‐ranked economics departments either do not specify an ordering or require microeconomics first, while most textbooks present macroeconomics before microeconomics. Using a national economic education database, we find that students learn more in principles of microeconomics after taking a course in macroeconomics. However, students do not learn more in principles of macroeconomics after taking a course in microeconomics. This implies that, ceteris paribus, principles of macroeconomics should be taught before principles of microeconomics for optimal student learning.

A study of the performance of Developmental Studies students in the principles of economics

This study assesses the performance of Developmental Studies students in the principles of economics. The null hypothesis is that once demographic and academic variables are taken into account, completion of a developmental studies course(s) contributes nothing to the probability of success in a principles of economics course. The study analyzes a sample of 1,053 principles of economics students during the 1989 academic year. A logit regression model is used to estimate the probability of successfully completing a course in the principles of economics. The study finds that the completion of the Developmental Study Skills course is an important determinant of the probability of success in the principles of economics courses.

The Impact of High School Economics on the College Principles of Economics Course

The importance of high school courses in economics on student achievement in college principles of economics courses is explored. Contrary to previous fmdings, high school economics is positively related to students' grades in both macroeconomics and microeconomics.

The Impact of High School Economics on the College Principles of Economics Course

The Impact of High School Economics on the College Principles of Economics Course

Software Reviews : AECONIntro: Computer Aided Instruction for Introductory Economics

AECONlntro is a set of tutorial and drill lessons written for a course in introductory agricultural economics. Because the organization of the material is conventional, it could, with minor adaptations, be used equally well in traditional principles of economics courses. Consisting of eight HyperCard stacks, it includes simple text explanations, many animated demonstrations, and a variety of problem-solving exercises.

Performance and Attitudinal Effects of a Computer Laboratory in the Principles of Economics Course

This study presents the results of a controlled experiment testing the effect of a computer laboratory on student performance and attitudes in an introductory college economics course. The authors develop a two-stage, ordered-probit model to examine the simultaneous determination of performance and attitude formation. The empirical results indicate the lab course significantly improved course performance for students at either end of the grade distribution. The lab was not found to significantly improve student attitudes toward the discipline. Keywords: economics, CAI, laboratory, learning, attitudes.

How Instructors Make a Difference: Panel Data Estimates from Principles of Economics Courses

Differences in student learning associated with different instructors in three types of principles of economics courses are estimated using a fixed- and random-effects specification for an educational production function. Results show a wide variance in these instructor effects and that this variance increases directly with the amount of latitude instructors are given in the classroom. Copyright 1991 by MIT Press.

Research on High School Economic Education: Comment

There are several good features about the review of research on high school economic education by William Becker, William Greene, and Sherwin Rosen (1990). First, I like the attention that is given to the topic of high school economics. It is my opinion that the economics profession has not been as concerned with precollege education as other professions, such as mathematics, the natural sciences, and history, have been. There seems to be a disdain of high school economics in the economics profession, at least that is what I have heard on occasion at meetings of academic economists. Let us hope that view is changing because, like it or not, most of the economic education of students in this country will be provided in senior high school. Many high school graduates do not attend college, and even if they do, they may never take a principles of economics course. Second, I like the focus on current research. The current work is beginning to confirm findings that we have suspected were true for a long time, and some studies are exploring topics that have not been investigated before. The review is also comprehensive in the sense that relevant past studies are cited in the context of the discussions of current research. I recommend reading this literature review because it offers an initial description of the best of the new studies and more insights about our research on high school economics. But read it carefully. Space constraints forced the authors to make every word count, and at times, the writing becomes cryptic. Despite my favorable thoughts about the review, a few critical comments should offer a broader perspective. The comments address each of the four parts of the review: (1) measurement of knowledge; (2) research design, modeling, and findings; (3) problems with value added; and (5) problems of data loss.

An Approach to Testing the Effectiveness of the Teaching and Learning of Economics in High School

Based on data on students in a college economics principles course over a nine-year period, the authors conclude that high school economics does improve performance in the principles course but does not influence grades in intermediate theory classes.

The effectiveness of microcomputer simulations in the principles of economics course

This paper reports a controlled experiment investigating the instructional effectiveness of a textbook-based microcomputer simulation program in the traditional Principles of Economics course. A group of economics students at Mississippi State University were required to work through a macroeconomic policy simulation program as part of their course of study. These students were pre- and post-tested using the Revised Test of Understanding College Economics and the Attitude Towards Economics dimension of the Survey of Economic Attitudes. Changes in their test scores are compared to those of students in a traditional lecture class not exposed to the simulation program. A MANOVA analysis of the data indicates a difference in economic learning and attitude formation between the class groups. The results suggest that students using the computer simulation significantly improved their ability to solve implicitly stated problems in economics and left the class with more positive attitudes toward the discipline than students who did not use the simulation. The authors conclude that computerized simulations can be an effective instructional device in the Principles of Economics course.