The use of online courses has expanded dramatically at institutions of higher education over the last several decades. Appropriate design of an online course is instrumental in determining the quality of the student experience and the amount of material students retain from the class. However, the instructor has a tremendous amount of freedom when…

In this paper, we present a study, which models and measures the competencies of higher education students in business and economics--within and across countries. To measure student competencies in a valid and reliable way, the Test of Understanding in College Economics was used, which assesses microeconomic and macroeconomic competencies. The…

In this dissertation, I study economics textbook markets as an example of durable goods monopoly. Textbooks are protected by copyrights, and from a student's point of view, different textbooks are not good substitutes because students wish to use the textbook adopted by their instructors. Therefore sellers have market power. Textbooks can be…

Does investing taxpayer money in higher education lead to major payoffs in economic growth? State legislators and policy makers say yes. They routinely advocate massive appropriations for university education and research, even in poor economic times, on the grounds that taxpayers will be rewarded many times over. The investment of federal funds…

In 1989, microeconomics and macroeconomics examinations debuted on the Advanced Placement (AP) scene. At that time, many professors of economics were skeptical that college freshmen had the skills and maturity to understand the concepts in principles of economics courses. They thought teaching these concepts to high school students was even more…

In order to consider whether a course in college algebra should be a prerequisite for taking psychology statistics, we recorded students' grades in elementary psychology statistics and in college algebra at a 4-year university. Students who earned credit in algebra prior to enrolling in statistics for the first time had a significantly higher mean…

Explores consensus among economists on specific propositions on the basis of a fall 2000 survey of American Economic Association members. Finds consensus generally within the profession, although the degree of consensus varies among propositions that are international, macroeconomic, and microeconomic in nature. States the profession displays…

Updates a study of the coverage of entrepreneurship contained in principles of economics textbooks originally carried out in the mid-1980s. Analyzes coverage of the same topics in 14 popular introductory texts. Concludes that entrepreneurship still has not worked its way into economics-principles texts. (DSK)

Discusses four reasons why economic forecasting courses are important: (1) forecasting skills are in demand by businesses; (2) forecasters are in demand; (3) forecasting courses have positive externalities; (4) and forecasting provides a real-world context. Describes what should be taught in an economic forecasting course. (CMK)

Presents a Web site that utilizes the Learning-by-Objective (LBO) model that integrates Internet tools for knowledge transmission, communication, and assessment of learning. Explains that the LBO model has been used in creating micro and macroeconomic course Web sites with WebCT software. (CMK)

Describes a Web site for college economics instructors that provides 113 noncomputerized economics experiments (games) to help teach fundamental micro and macroeconomic concepts. Explains that the games are annotated and hyperlinked and that the Web site is organized into three tables classifying the games. (CMK)

Describes interest in the behavior of random processes with positive feedback. Explains that simulation of the law of large numbers with increasing amounts of feedback makes instruction of random processes with positive feedback possible for undergraduate students. (RLH)

Examines how much time is spent in economics and management sciences programs; how much time is allocated among different courses within programs; what common thematic denominators exist; and whether and in what way content in microeconomics and macroeconomics courses differs. (RLH)

Provides comments by Nobel laureate Paul A. Samuelson, Harold W. McGraw Jr., William D. Nordhaus, Orley Ashenfelter, Robert M. Solow, and Stanley Fischer on Samuelson's introductory textbook "Economics," as presented at the 1998 American Economic Association meetings in Chicago (Illinois). (CMK)

Investigates factors that influence the short-run and long-run effects of supply-side shocks on aggregate income and tax revenues. Concludes that the long-run relationship between tax revenues and the tax rate is completely independent of price-level elasticity. (CFR)