Psychological evaluation of the development of economic education for fostering wise citizens

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There is a serious gap between what people need to know about economics and what they are being taught, despite the fact that knowledge about economics has become essential nowadays. People do not always understand how government spending affects their everyday life, how to save and invest for their future retirement, or how to avoid becoming victims of fraudulent commercial ventures, to mention but a few examples. This study examined economic understanding among children and adults with a focus on everyday behaviors such as purchasing, saving, investing, and so forth. The participants were 4th and 6th graders (N=328) from two elementary schools, and undergraduate students (N = 915) from four universities located in different regions of Japan. They answered both forced-choice questions and questions requiring self-explanations. The results were as follows. 1)Analyses of children's responses to the questionnaire revealed that economic reasoning develops from 4th to 6th graders, though t … More heir monetary saving behavior appeared to be influenced by their school environment. As for the relationship between monetary saving behavior and reasoning about depositing, the two variables correlated significantly among 6th graders in one school. The results suggest that instruction styles in elementary schools may play an important role in connecting everyday behavior and economic reasoning. 2)The questionnaire for adults included items on economic literacy topics such as money and banking, inflation and recession, commerce and trade, investment and risk taking, fraudulent commerce, taxation, insurance and pension, corporate social responsibility, educational investment, and the predictive powers of economics. The results of a structural equation modeling revealed that economics information acquired through newspapers and business magazines affected the participants' knowledge about economics, which in turn affected risk taking attitude, views about corporate activities, tax consciousness, and understanding of the roles of education for a better life. Less