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Measuring Economic Competence of Secondary School Students in Germany

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  • Kaiser, Tim
  • Oberrauch, Luis
  • Seeber, Günther

Abstract

We introduce a test of economic competence for German-speaking secondary school students and provide evidence from a large-scale assessment with 6,230 students from grades seven to ten. The article presents the development and psychometric properties of the scale, as well as an investigation of predictors of economic competence. We find evidence of a gender gap favoring male students, lower scores for students with a migration background, and parents’ socioeconomic background being a predictor of test performance. Additionally, we document sizeable differences between tracks, as well as gains in economic competence across grades in the order of magnitude of 0.06 to 0.2 standard deviations per year. The article concludes with perspectives on an impact evaluation of a curriculum reform introducing mandatory economic education in secondary school.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaiser, Tim & Oberrauch, Luis & Seeber, Günther, 2019. "Measuring Economic Competence of Secondary School Students in Germany," EconStor Preprints 202639, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:esprep:202639
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Oberrauch, Luis & Kaiser, Tim & Seeber, Günther, 2023. "Measuring economic competence of youth with a short scale," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    2. Eberle, Mira & Oberrauch, Luis, 2023. "What a difference three years of economics education make: Evidence from lower stream schools in Germany," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    3. Süssmuth, Bernd & Gawellek, Bastian & Koenings, Fabian, 2021. "Economics education, childhood socialization, and the transmission of allocation preferences," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    4. Kaiser, Tim & Oberrauch, Luis & Pang, Ming Fai & Seeber, Günther, 2021. "Using the ‘Test of Economic Competence’ with secondary school students in Hong Kong: Results and psychometric properties," EconStor Preprints 236205, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    5. Kaiser, Tim & Oberrauch, Luis, 2021. "Economic education at the expense of indoctrination? Evidence from Germany," EconStor Preprints 245801, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic competence; economic literacy; item response theory; school economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A21 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Pre-college

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