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Measuring economic competence of youth with a short scale

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

Abstract

We present a 12-item scale measuring the cognitive component of economic competence and document the psychometric properties of the scale. Using a data set with >12,000 secondary school students in Germany, the scale shows high discriminatory power and covers a wide range of ability levels. Analyses of ‘Differential Item Functioninǵ show no item bias across key demographic characteristics, and scores show meaningful associations with scores obtained from adjacent test instruments. Student-level correlates mirror estimates documented in earlier literature as well as results relying on a more extensive version of the scale with 31 items. The presented short scale enables researchers and practitioners to efficiently measure economic competence of youth.

Suggested Citation

  • Oberrauch, Luis & Kaiser, Tim & Seeber, Günther, 2023. "Measuring economic competence of youth with a short scale," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:97:y:2023:i:c:s016748702300034x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2023.102633
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic competence; Economic literacy; IRT; Measurement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A21 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Pre-college
    • G53 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Financial Literacy
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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