IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-22-00180.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic knowledge, political views, and Covid-19 related behaviors

Author

Listed:
  • Grace O. Onodipe

    (Georgia Gwinnett College)

  • Amanda L. Wilsker

    (Georgia Gwinnett College)

  • Mark A. Partridge

    (Georgia Gwinnett College)

Abstract

Economic knowledge is key for an informed society, with previous studies finding a relationship between such knowledge and policy preferences. Most studies find a positive relationship between economic knowledge and more conservative viewpoints with one recent exception, whereby increased economic knowledge was associated with stronger opinions on both sides. Here, we explore the relationship between economic knowledge and reactions to COVID-19 precautions. We perform ordered logistic regression analysis on data collected from 246 college students and find that individuals identifying as Republican were strongly associated with practicing social distancing relative to Independents, although this effect decreases significantly with increase in TEL (Test of Economic Literacy) scores. For Democrats, however, higher scores on the Test of Economic Literacy are associated with more positive responses to CDC recommendations. Our results indicate that a statistically significant relationship exists between economic knowledge and views of COVID-19, but this relationship is a function of political preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • Grace O. Onodipe & Amanda L. Wilsker & Mark A. Partridge, 2022. "Economic knowledge, political views, and Covid-19 related behaviors," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 42(2), pages 895-906.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-22-00180
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2022/Volume42/EB-22-V42-I2-P76.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael R. Hammock & P. Wesley Routon & Jay K. Walker, 2016. "The opinions of economics majors before and after learning economics," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(1), pages 76-83, January.
    2. William C. Wood & Joanne M. Doyle, 2002. "Economic Literacy Among Corporate Employees," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 195-205, September.
    3. William E. Becker, 2007. "Quit Lying and Address the Controversies: There are No Dogmata, Laws, Rules or Standards in the Science of Economics," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 51(1), pages 3-14, March.
    4. Michael K. Salemi, 2005. "Teaching Economic Literacy: Why, What and How," International Review of Economic Education, Economics Network, University of Bristol, vol. 4(2), pages 46-57.
    5. William B. Walstad, 1997. "The Effect of Economic Knowledge on Public Opinion of Economic Issues," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 195-205, September.
    6. Yating Chuang & John Chung-En Liu, 2020. "Who wears a mask? Gender differences in risk behaviors in the COVID-19 early days in Taiwan," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(4), pages 2619-2627.
    7. Sam Allgood & William Bosshardt & Wilbert van der Klaauw & Michael Watts, 2012. "Is Economics Coursework, or Majoring in Economics, Associated with Different Civic Behaviors?," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(3), pages 248-268, July.
    8. Lucia Savadori & Giuseppe Espa & Maria Michela Dickson, 2020. "The polarizing impact of numeracy, economic literacy, and science literacy on attitudes toward immigration," Papers 2011.02362, arXiv.org.
    9. Brent A. Evans, 2015. "Did Economic Literacy Influence Macroeconomic Policy Preferences of the General Public during the Financial Crisis?," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 60(2), pages 132-141, September.
    10. William B. Walstad & Ken Rebeck, 2001. "Assessing the Economic Understanding of U.S. High School Students," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 452-457, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ramlee Ismail & Mohd Yahya Mohd Hussin & Fidlizan Muhammad, 2019. "Economic Literacy: Does It Matter for Policy Understanding?," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(5), pages 104-112, December.
    2. Amélie Goossens & Pierre-Guillaume Méon, 2015. "The Belief that Market Transactions Are Mutually Beneficial: A Comparison of the Views of Students in Economics and Other Disciplines," Post-Print CEB, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 46(2), pages 121-134, April.
    3. Cook Nathaniel P.S. & Underwood Robert L., 2012. "Attitudes Toward Economic Globalization: Does Knowledge Matter?," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 12(4), pages 1-20, December.
    4. Maite D. Laméris & Pierre-Guillaume Méon & Anne-Marie Prooijen, 2023. "What have we done?! The impact of economics on the beliefs and values of business students," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(3), pages 433-483, April.
    5. Nek Kamal Yeop & Norasibah Abdul Jalil, 2010. "Economic Literacy amongst the Secondary School Teachers in Perak Malaysia," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 1(2), pages 69-78.
    6. Paul W. Grimes & Kevin E. Rogers & William D. Bosshardt, 2021. "Economic Education and Household Financial Outcomes during the Financial Crisis," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-12, July.
    7. Carlos Asarta & Ken Rebeck, 2011. "Measurement Techniques of Student Performance and Literacy: College and High School," Chapters, in: Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick (ed.), International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, chapter 29, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Jacob, Robert & Christandl, Fabian & Fetchenhauer, Detlef, 2011. "Economic experts or laypeople? How teachers and journalists judge trade and immigration policies," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 662-671.
    9. Brent A. Evans, 2015. "Did Economic Literacy Influence Macroeconomic Policy Preferences of the General Public during the Financial Crisis?," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 60(2), pages 132-141, September.
    10. William Polley, 2014. "Do students recognize an opportunity cost when they see one? Evidence from introductory economics," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(3), pages 1550-1556.
    11. Bernd Hayo & Florian Neumeier, 2017. "Public Attitudes toward Fiscal Consolidation: Evidence from a Representative German Population Survey," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(1), pages 42-69, February.
    12. Borau, Sylvie & Couprie, Hélène & Hopfensitz, Astrid, 2022. "The prosociality of married people: Evidence from a large multinational sample," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    13. Robert F. Garnett, Jr., 2009. "Rethinking The Pluralist Agenda In Economics Education," International Review of Economic Education, Economics Network, University of Bristol, vol. 8(2), pages 58-71.
    14. Helena Chytilová & Zdeněk Chytil, 2014. "Ekonomické vzdělání a peněžní iluze, experimentální přístup [Economic Education and Money Illusion: An Experimental Approach]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2014(4), pages 500-520.
    15. Mohsen Javdani & Ha-Joon Chang, 2023. "Who said or what said? Estimating ideological bias in views among economists," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 47(2), pages 309-339.
    16. John V. Winters & Weineng Xu, 2014. "Geographic Differences in the Earnings of Economics Majors," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(3), pages 262-276, September.
    17. Robin Bartlett & Marianne Ferber & Carole Green, 2009. "The Committee on Economic Education: Its Effect on the Introductory Course and Women in Economics," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(2-3), pages 153-172, January.
    18. Vranceanu, Radu & Barthélémy, Jérôme, 2011. "Knowledge in economics and economic reform : An analysis of French survey data," ESSEC Working Papers WP1103, ESSEC Research Center, ESSEC Business School.
    19. William E. Becker & Suzanne R. Becker, 2011. "Potpourri: Reflections from Husband/Wife Academic Editors," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 56(2), pages 74-84, November.
    20. Martin Kniepert, 2014. "Die (Neue) Institutionenökonomik als Ansatz für einen erweiterten, offeneren Zugang zur Volkswirtschaftslehre," Working Papers 552014, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Institute for Sustainable Economic Development.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic knowledge; COVID-19 pandemic behaviors; Test of Economic Literacy; political party;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A2 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-22-00180. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.