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

人们需要了解的经济学知识与他们所接受的教育之间存在严重差距，尽管经济学知识在当今已经变得至关重要。举例来说，市民未必明白政府开支如何影响他们的日常生活，如何为将来的退休生活储蓄和投资，或如何避免成为欺诈性商业投资的受害者。这项研究调查了儿童和成人对经济的理解，重点是日常行为，如购买，储蓄，投资等。参与者是来自两所小学的四年级和六年级学生（N=328），以及来自日本不同地区四所大学的本科生（N = 915）。他们既回答了强迫选择问题，也回答了需要自我解释的问题。结果如下。1)对孩子们对问卷的回答进行分析，结果显示，经济推理能力从4年级到6年级都在发展，尽管经济推理能力在6年级到7年级之间发展。 ...更多信息 他们的储蓄行为似乎受到学校环境的影响。至于储蓄行为与储蓄动机之关系，则以某校六年级学童为例，两者皆有显著相关。研究结果表明，小学的教学风格可能在连接日常行为和经济推理方面发挥重要作用。2)针对成年人的调查问卷包括关于经济知识主题的项目，如货币和银行业务、通货膨胀和衰退、商业和贸易、投资和风险承担、欺诈性商业、税收、保险和养老金、企业社会责任、教育投资以及经济学的预测能力。结构方程模型的结果显示，通过报纸和商业杂志获得的经济信息影响了参与者的经济知识，进而影响了他们的冒险态度、对企业活动的看法、纳税意识以及对教育对美好生活的作用的理解。少

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