Economics can be taught much earlier than we usually imagine, as a life skill, with direct experience, from kindergarten on. An experiential, early-grades economics of budgets, buying, and giving-up-to-get may be better than the politically inspired insistence that students get an allegedly healthy dose of free-market ideology just before they are…

The typical profit-maximization solution for the joint-production problem found in intermediate texts, managerial texts, and other texts concerned with optimal pricing is oversimplified and inconsistent with profit maximization, unless there is either no excess of any of the joint products or no costs associated with dumping. However, it is an…

The authors describe an interdisciplinary course team-taught by an economist and a sociologist. Historically mindful of the less than amicable relationship between these disciplines, these colleagues developed a course that attempted to illuminate the different perspectives of economics and sociology in relation to selected health themes. Such a…

The author offers innovative approaches to 3 topics that are typically only briefly mentioned (if at all) in money and banking courses. The first topic is a Treasury bill auction experiment in which students have an opportunity to participate directly. The results from a class of 14 money and banking students are used to explain how an instructor…

Economics is usually perceived as a difficult subject among undergraduate students with negative repercussions on their performance. The literature suggests that the students' problems with principles of economics are mainly related to the style and method of teaching together with the course content. Particularly attacked are the chalk and talk…

This article aims to investigate the academic performance (measured by quality points) of the business students in quantitative courses. It also explores the impact of a number of factors on the academic performance of business students in these courses. A random sample of 750 third- and fourth-level business students at the United Arab Emirates…

There is a significant variation in the managerial economics course in terms of the prerequisites, contents and delivery in the MBA programs of AACSB [Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business] institutions. In order to get detailed information on these aspects, we conducted a survey of 275 AACSB institutions and reported the results.…

Several months after having completed an introductory economics course, most students are no better able to answer simple economic questions than students who never took the course. The problem seems to be that principles courses try to teach students far too much, with the result that everything goes by in a blur. The good news is that a…

Teaching an evening course in economics at an Adult Education Institute can be challenging. But it is very different from teaching economics in a college. Discusses adults' motives for studying economics, what economics should be taught, teaching methods, and ways to facilitate classroom discussion. (RM)

Economics does not have sharply delineated boundaries, but the domain has been defined broadly, and differently, from time-to-time. Currently, the contents of economics can be divided into the following broad areas: macroeconomics, microeconomics, and development economics. Most economists specialize in one or more of the more narrowly defined…

Reexamines the use of the novel, "Murder at the Margin," in college and high school economics instruction. Identifies errors in the book's application of economic principles. Explores the novel's approach to the "prisoner's dilemma" and the making of choices. Concludes that despite problems, the book remains valuable to…

Discusses the role of the textbook in the principles of economics course. Recognizing that textbooks are only one source of input for students, and that they substitute for lectures to a limited extent, Boskin recommends that texts should stress the basics and serve as a reference source to support classroom instruction. (GEA)

Commenting on Boskin's article "Observations on the Use of Textbooks in the Teaching of Principles of Economics," Case discusses the debate surrounding the sequence of principles courses and the content deemed necessary for corresponding textbooks. Case agrees with Boskin that key concepts should have more emphasis and concludes that…

This article shares the author's personal views about current macroeconomic policy and what ought to be taught at senior high school or freshman college levels. Concludes that Keynesian economics is not dead, but that modern eclectic macroeconomics must focus on basic data about the economy and what is at stake in making decisions based on…