International comparisons of economic understanding generally require a translation of a standardized test written in English into another language. Test results can differ based on how researchers translate the English written exam into one in their own language. To confirm this hypothesis, two differently translated versions of the "Basic…

The authors examine two factors that may affect student achievement in economics principles courses: working for pay and the primary source of funds (employer tuition reimbursement, loans, scholarships, financial aid, self-financing, parental transfers, other) used to pay for college for a sample of students in economics principles classes at a…

This article examines whether first-year students in introductory economics courses get better grades if they have other students in their on-campus residential unit who either are taking the same course or have taken the course in the past. The study uses nine years of data for the introductory economics course at Reed College. The author finds…

Over 20 years ago, the late William Zahka (1990, 1998) outlined how the acceptance speeches of those who received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science could be used to teach undergraduates. This article updates and expands Zahka's work, identifying some of the issues discussed by recent Nobel Laureates, classifying their speeches by topic…

This classroom experiment uses double oral auction credit markets to illustrate the role of banks as financial intermediaries. The experiment demonstrates how risk affects market interest rates in the presence of asymmetric information. It provides fodder for a discussion of the moral-hazard problem of deposit insurance and its impact on depositor…

This article describes a protocol the authors developed for teaching undergraduates to document their statistical analyses for empirical research projects so that their results are completely reproducible and verifiable. The protocol is guided by the principle that the documentation prepared to accompany an empirical research project should be…

This article describes Starting Point: Teaching and Learning Economics, a Web-based portal that makes innovative pedagogic resources and effective teaching practices easily accessible to economists. Starting Point introduces economists to teaching innovations through 16 online modules, each containing a general description of a specific pedagogic…

In a typical economics principles course, students encounter a large number of concepts. In a literacy-targeted course, students study a "short list" of concepts that they can use for the rest of their lives. While a literacy-targeted principles course provides better education for nonmajors, it may place economic majors at a disadvantage in…

The term "Discouraged-Business-Major" (DBM) describes students who become discouraged with the rigorous standards of colleges of business and migrate to colleges of arts and sciences to complete a degree in economics under relaxed requirements (Salemi and Eubanks 1996). Following Salemi and Eubanks, the present authors examine a decade of…

Classroom experiments in economics continue to increase in popularity. While early experiments were often hand-run in class, now computerized online experiments are also widely available. Using a quasiexperimental approach, the authors investigated whether any difference in student achievement (as measured by course scores and the "Test of…

The importance of math skills for study success in economics has been widely researched. This article adds to the literature by combining information on students' math skills and their motivation. The authors are thus able to present a rich picture of why students succeed in their study of economics and to confirm previous findings that deficient…

The authors ask whether writing a report on a classroom experiment increases a student's performance in an end-of-course test. To answer this question, the authors analyzed data from a first-year undergraduate course based on classroom experiments and found that writing a report has a large positive benefit. They conclude, therefore, that it is…

In most introductory textbooks on principles of economics, discussion of the theory or practice of entrepreneurship is almost entirely absent. This omission is striking, given the important role in economic growth that economists assign to the entrepreneur. While there are plausible explanations for this omission, new research suggests the…

This article illustrates how literature can bring models to life in undergraduate courses on labor market economics. The authors argue that economics instructors and students can benefit from even small doses of literature. The authors examine excerpts from five American novels: "Sister Carrie" by Theodore Drieser (1900/2005); "The Grapes of…

Poverty measurement is often controversial, but good public policy relies crucially on a broadly supported and understood poverty measure. In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau announced it would begin regular reporting of a new supplemental poverty measure in October 2011. The present article provides background information for a student exercise…