Many research studies which deal with the teaching of economics at the college level conclude that different teaching methods do not lead to very different results in terms of student achievement. This paper suggests that one reason student achievement may fail to demonstrate the superiority of one teaching method over another is that achievement is a function of a student's intellectual ability and time put into the course. It is suggested that less effort and time studying economics and additional leisure time, instead of improved achievement, may be the dominant benefit of a different teaching method. To test this hypothesis, a dependent variable was designed to measure the change in a student's effort in economics based on an economic learning model developed by McKenzie and Staaf. Three effort variables were constructed and tested to determine if effort was correlated with grade expectation, student attitude, sex, age, hours worked, day or night classes, or having had or not had a high school course in economics. Results indicated that non-working students and those students who expect and/or receive high grades exhibit more effort. It is suggested that the effort variable be taken into consideration in evaluating teaching methods. (JK)