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Economic Literacy or Economic Ideology?

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  • Julie A. Nelson
  • Steven M. Sheffrin

Abstract

The Test of Economic Literacy (TEL), is a standardized multiple choice test developed under the auspices of the Joint Council on Economic Education with esteemed economists in an advisory role. The Test of Economic Literacy (TEL) is administered in many high school economics courses both to measure economic understanding and to monitor the effectiveness of teaching. We found that some of the questions in the test have a pronounced ideological slant. We view the biases in the TEL as characteristic vices of economists. In their weaker moments, economists can slip into a thought pattern which glorifies laissez-faire microeconomics while at the same time favoring Keynesian interventionist macroeconomics; this is precisely the bias of the TEL. The next two sections examine the ideological components of the microeconomics and macroeconomics respectively. For each part, we present a few of the questions and discuss their ideological content. For the micro part, we use the TEL data bank to analyze a matched sample of students who took the test before and after a course in economics. This empirical exercise allows us to address the questions in the title of the paper: what is taught and measured, literacy or ideology?

Suggested Citation

  • Julie A. Nelson & Steven M. Sheffrin, 1991. "Economic Literacy or Economic Ideology?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 157-165, Summer.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:5:y:1991:i:3:p:157-65
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.5.3.157
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    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.5.3.157
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Becker, William E & Greene, William & Rosen, Sherwin, 1990. "Research on High School Economic Education," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 14-22, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Levy & Avichai Snir, 2022. "Potterian economics," Oxford Open Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 1, pages 1-32.
    2. Julie A. Nelson, 2012. "Poisoning the Well, or How Economic Theory Damages Moral Imagination," GDAE Working Papers 12-07, GDAE, Tufts University.
    3. Peter W. Schuhmann & KimMarie McGoldrick & Robert T. Burrus, 2005. "Student Quantitative Literacy: Importance, Measurement, and Correlation with Economic Literacy," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 49(1), pages 49-65, March.
    4. Mehmet POLAT, 2023. "An Empirical Application on Determine the Economic Literacy Levels of Public Staff," Sosyoekonomi Journal, Sosyoekonomi Society, issue 31(56).
    5. Carlos Asarta & Ken Rebeck, 2011. "Measurement Techniques of Student Performance and Literacy: College and High School," Chapters, in: Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick (ed.), International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, chapter 29, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Nelson, Julie A., 2012. "Poisoning the Well, or How Economic Theory Damages Moral Imagination," Working Papers 179107, Tufts University, Global Development and Environment Institute.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • A21 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Pre-college
    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values

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