Michael Watts

Purdue University | Purdue · Department of Economics

Fixed- and random-effects models are used to show the significance of instructor effects on high school student learning of economics.

Instructor effects in elementary and junior high classes are estimated in a panel data model with data from the national norming samples for the National Council on Economic Education's Test of Economic Knowledge and Basic Economics Test. Some teachers are shown to be more effective than others.

We conducted a national survey of department Chairs to investigate whether departments of economics changed course requirements for bachelors degrees since the Siegfried and Bidani (1992) paper using 1980 data. There have been few changes to course requirements. Most notable are a large increase in the number of departments requiring econometrics a...

We identify factors related to instructors’ choice of assessment methods in undergraduate economics courses, using national survey data collected in 1995, 2000, and 2005. Respondents were asked to indicate which of 10 different assessment methods they used in four different types of courses (principles, intermediate theory, econometrics and statist...

The first National Conference on Teaching Economics and Research in Economic Education was held June 1—3, 2011, at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). The conference was organized by the Committee on Economic Education of the American Economic Association (AEA) and cosponsored by the Journal of Economic Education (JEE). The...

Using survey data collected in 1995, 2000 and 2005 from US academic economists, in which respondents were asked to indicate what percentage of their work time they allocate to research, teaching and service activities, and also how their departments and schools weight research, teaching and service in determining annual raises and making promotion...

Using survey data from over 2,000 students who attended one of four large public universities in 1976, 1986, or 1996, we investigate the relationship between taking more coursework in economics, or choosing economics as an undergraduate major, and a wide range of later decisions and outcomes in labor markets and personal finance, many of which have...

Surveys in 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010 investigated teaching and assessment methods in different undergraduate courses. In this article, the authors offer basic results from the 2010 survey. “Chalk and talk” remains the dominant teaching style, but there were drops in mean (although not median) values for those pedagogies and some growth in the use...

The authors list economic concepts and issues covered in the children's books published by Theodor Geisel and discuss his treatment of concepts that appear most often and that are treated in greater depth. Some concepts are sophisticated and taught as formal concepts only in college-level economics courses. Others are basic and used in economics un...

The authors explain the purpose and context for the 2009 International Symposium on Economic Education that was the source for articles on four nations with relatively developed systems for economic education: Australia, England, Japan, and Korea. The authors highlight several key comparisons from the four articles that appear in this Journal of Ec...

Little research in economic education has dealt with MBA programs. The authors investigated student performance in a microeconomics/managerial economics course taught in a one-year MBA program at the German International School of Management and Administration in Hanover, Germany, during the 2002–5 academic years. After controlling for other measur...

Studies regularly link levels of educational attainment to civic behavior and attitudes, but only a few investigate the role played by specific coursework. Using data collected from students who attended one of four public universities in our study, we investigate the relationship between economics coursework and civic behavior after graduation. Dr...

We provide a list of economic concepts and issues covered in all of the children's books published by Theodor Geisel, writing under the pen names of Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg, or Rosetta Stone. We discuss his treatment of the concepts and issues that appear most often and that are treated in greater depth, especially in his works for relatively older...

State University for their assistance in obtaining and sometimes in interpreting curriculum guidelines from their respective institutions. We hold them blameless for any errors in what we say here. 1 In this paper, we update several earlier articles dealing with the restructuring of undergraduate economics instruction 1 at Moscow State University (...

The National Center for Educational Statistics' Baccalaureate and Beyond study, which had data from its second follow-up released in 1999, drew a nationally representative sample of approximately 11,000 graduates in the 1992-93 academic year. Using transcript data from the study, the authors report what economics courses students in different major...

In 1995, 2000, and 2005, the authors surveyed U.S. academic economists to investigate how economics is taught in four different types of undergraduate courses at postsecondary institutions. They especially looked for any changes in teaching methods that occurred over this decade, when there were several prominent calls for economists and postsecond...

We thank the Board of the Calvin K. Kazanjian Economics Foundation for the grant that made this work possible, and the AEA Committee for Economic Education for bringing us together to write the proposal, as described in Salemi et al. (2001). April Fidler provided major assistance in project coordination, administration, and data entry. Georg Schaur...

The National Center for Educational Statistics’ Baccalaureate and Beyond (B and B) Longitudinal Study followed a nationally representative sample of approximately 11,000 students after their graduation in the 1992–93 academic year, with interviews conducted in 1994 and 1997. Approximately 1,700 graduates reported working as teachers at some tim...

How much time do academic economists allocate to teaching, research, and service, and how much time do their departments want them to allocate to these pursuits? As a result of the decline in economics majors in the early 1990s, was there a change in the reward system and time allocation of academic economists toward teaching? In this study, the au...

offered the provocative hypothesis that students would retain very little knowledge from principles courses in economics five years or more after taking the courses. The few empirical studies that have been published on this topic generally found no or small lasting effects, at least for those who took fewer than four courses (e. g., see Bach and S...

In several earlier papers and an edited volume on teaching economics to undergraduates, Bill Becker and I have argued that economists are, as a group, far more likely to teach using "chalk and talk" methods than instructors in other subject areas. We claim that reduces students' enjoyment and appreciation of basic economics, and quite possibly decr...

In 1995 and 2000, the authors surveyed academic economists in the United States to establish how economics is taught in four types of undergraduate courses. The authors report overall findings from the 2000 survey and compare these results with the aggregate findings for respondents from all types of colleges and universities in the 1995 survey. Th...

Most economics departments use end-of-term student evaluations of teaching, but the relationship between instructors’ assessments of their own teaching and their students’assessments is unknown. The background survey for the nationally normed Test of Understanding in College Economics asked students and instructors to evaluate the instructor on...

The authors deal with the restructuring of undergraduate economics instruction at Moscow State University (MSU) since 1989. They examine how closely the reforms at MSU are mirrored by changes at Belarus State University in Minsk and at Kiev State University. They also consider, and often offer an “insider’s†perspective on, several issues rela...

In 1995 and 2000, the authors surveyed academic economists in the United States to establish how economics is taught in four types of undergraduate courses. The authors report overall findings from the 2000 survey and compare these results with the aggregate findings for respondents from all types of colleges and universities in the 1995 survey. Th...

Based on results from a 1999 national survey, William Becker and Michael Watts found that student evaluations of teaching were by far the most widely used, and often the only method used by economics departments, to evaluate teaching in undergraduate economics courses. To investigate whether departments of economics have moved beyond the use of stu...

Based on results from a 1999 national survey, William Becker and Michael Watts found that student evaluations of teaching were by far the most widely used, and often the only method used by economics departments, to evaluate teaching in undergraduate economics courses. To investigate whether departments of economics have moved beyond the use of stu...

Probit analysis is used to investigate factors that affect instructors' choices of teaching methodologies in introductory economics. The results show that instructor gender, percent of work time devoted to teaching, and the school's Carnegie classification are important determinants. Also, although class size is not an important determinant in the...

The coverage and accuracy of economics in the K-12 national standards of other related disciplines are compared with what is recommended in the new NCEE voluntary standards.

The standards movement in the United States — a movement, which is roughly analogous to the National Curriculum movement in the United Kingdom, has now produced national standards for several subject areas. Social studies educators in the United States now possess a set of five national standards. But will these standards make reforming the curricu...

Lectures have long been the dominant pedagogical approach in undergraduate economics courses but they are certainly no longer the exclusive approach. Much of the recent soul-searching in the discipline, dealing with the desirable characteristics of economics programs and their graduates, has largely ignored the issue of promoting the use of innovat...

Asserts that the primary goal of economics education is to help students understand the economic world around them and make more informed personal and social decisions. Reviews comparative studies of economic education and student achievement in the United States, Japan, Germany, Austria, Australia, and the United Kingdom. (CFR)

Differences in student learning associated with different instructors in three types of principles of economics courses are estimated using a fixed- and random-effects specification for an educational production function. Results show a wide variance in these instructor effects and that this variance increases directly with the amount of latitude i...

Literature and drama are neglected but fruitful sources for economic instruction. They reflect and explicate major economic forces of their time.

A questionnaire dealing with K-12 scope and sequence issues in economics education was mailed to all members of the Social Studies Supervisors Association and the Council of State Social Studies Specialists. Respondents provided information on when they judged students to be intellectually capable of receiving instruction on 22 different economics...

Most economists are reluctant to discuss values in their papers and books, and some have recently argued that it is generally unnecessary as well as undesirable to do so (Stigler and Becker, 1977, p. 76). But most are noticeably more willing to discuss different types of economic systems which, it is argued here, originally developed out of differe...

This edition of the Test of Understanding in College Economics (TUCE-4) is the fourth revision of a test that was first developed almost forty years ago, and has an extensive history of use by teachers and researchers in the economics profession. The previous editions and their use have been described in earlier studies (Fels, 1967; Welsh and Fels,...