3. Dismal Knowledge of the Dismal Science
The evidence reveals that educators have not prepared Americans–including both voters and elected officeholders–to understand and to debate economic issues at their elementary level. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) just released the results of its third annual civic literacy survey in its new Report, Our Fading Heritage: Americans Fail a Basic Test on Their History and Institutions. Slightly over 2,500 Americans were administered an American civics test during the spring of this year. Disappointingly, seventy-one percent of Americans failed the test by scoring less than sixty percent correct. The average score among Americans was 49% correct. They scored slightly higher on the sections covering American history with a mean of 55%, and 52% on government and political thought.
The third category of economics proved to be Americans’ blind spot, scoring on average, 36%. Those respondents who have held an elected government office at least once scored 33%. The multiple-choice test that they failed covered foundational economic knowledge such as: What is a free market economy? Why has it so creatively secured so much prosperity? What tools do the government and the Fed customarily utilize to stabilize financial fluctuations? What constitutes a ‘public good,’ a progressive tax, and so forth?
The demon of economic illiteracy has gained a foothold in both political parties. Self-identified liberals and conservatives tied at a mean score of 36%. Those who identified themselves as moderates in political philosophy, as opposed to liberal or conservative, scored slightly higher at 38%. With respect to party affiliation, Republicans scored 40% compared with Democrats score of 33%. So consulting ideologies or political platforms does not help much in advancing one’s knowledge of core economics.
Attending college helps only slightly, but still not enough to earn a passing score on economics. Even those who had attained a four-year college degree scored, on average, 45% on economics. In contrast, those who ended their formal education with a high school diploma scored 30%, showing an increase of a mere fifteen points from attending college. After controlling for non-college influences upon economic knowledge, such as professional experience and independent reading, the impact of a college degree on respondents’ economics score falls to a trivial eight percent. Interestingly, daily or weekly discussion of public affairs among family and friends advances knowledge of history and political thought, while it fails to advance knowledge of economics. Those respondents having doctorates, though not necessarily doctorates in economics or finance, scored a mean of 61% on economics. Citizenship and intellectual curiosity still obligates engineers, biochemists, and musicians to formulate minimally informed opinion on political economy. Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s full Report, including an executive summary and listing of all thirty-three questions, is now available at the American Civic Literacy site.
