IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v16y2023i3p160-d1084658.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Gender and Primary Language Influence the Acquisition of Economic Knowledge of Secondary School Students in the United States and Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Roland Happ

    (Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, Institute of Business and Economics Education, Leipzig University, 04109 Leipzig, Germany)

  • Susanne Schmidt

    (Department of Law, Business & Economics, Institute of Business and Economics Education, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany)

  • Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia

    (Department of Law, Business & Economics, Institute of Business and Economics Education, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany)

  • William Walstad

    (Department of Economics College of Business, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0489, USA)

Abstract

Economics has become an essential component of secondary school curricula in many countries as a result of the growing awareness that young adults need fundamental economic knowledge to manage their personal finances. Accordingly, an increasing number of comparative studies are being conducted of commonalities and differences in students’ economic knowledge and its most decisive influencing factors within and across countries. In this study, we compare the performance of secondary school students in the United States (N = 3517) and Germany (N = 983) on the fourth version of the Test of Economic Literacy. We investigate two personal characteristics that have been found to influence the students’ acquisition of economic knowledge: gender and primary language. Although these two characteristics have been considered in numerous studies of economic education in both countries, they have not been investigated together in an international comparison, which would allow more effective pedagogical approaches for economic education to be formulated. We found male students in both countries exhibited greater economic knowledge, and students whose primary language was the same as the national language performed better. We discuss implications for economic education in both countries and cross-nationally.

Suggested Citation

  • Roland Happ & Susanne Schmidt & Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia & William Walstad, 2023. "How Gender and Primary Language Influence the Acquisition of Economic Knowledge of Secondary School Students in the United States and Germany," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-14, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:16:y:2023:i:3:p:160-:d:1084658
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/16/3/160/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/16/3/160/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amanda Bayer & David W. Wilcox, 2019. "The unequal distribution of economic education: A report on the race, ethnicity, and gender of economics majors at U.S. colleges and universities," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(3), pages 299-320, July.
    2. Betsey Stevenson & Hanna Zlotnik, 2018. "Representations of Men and Women in Introductory Economics Textbooks," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 108, pages 180-185, May.
    3. Charles Ballard & Marianne Johnson, 2005. "Gender, Expectations, And Grades In Introductory Microeconomics At A Us University," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 95-122.
    4. Mofareh Alqahtani, 2015. "The importance of vocabulary in language learning and how to be taught," International Journal of Teaching and Education, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences, vol. 3(3), pages 21-34, September.
    5. Kudayja Parker, 2006. "The Effect Of Student Characteristics On Achievement In Introductory Microeconomics In South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 74(1), pages 137-149, March.
    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. Hadsell, Lester, 2020. "Not for want of trying: Effort and Success of women in principles of microeconomics," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    2. Halim,Daniel Zefanya & Powers,Elizabeth T. & Thornton,Rebecca Lynn, 2021. "Gender Differences in Economics Course-Taking and Majoring : Findings from an RCT," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9732, The World Bank.
    3. Sarah F. Small, 2023. "Infusing Diversity in a History of Economic Thought Course: An Archival Study of Syllabi and Resources for Redesign," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(3), pages 276-311, June.
    4. Marín, Carmen & Rosa-García, Alfonso, 2011. "Gender bias in risk aversion: evidence from multiple choice exams," MPRA Paper 39987, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Ann L. Owen, 2010. "Grades, Gender, and Encouragement: A Regression Discontinuity Analysis," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 217-234, June.
    6. Bottan, Daria & McKee, Douglas & Orlov, George & McDougall, Anna, 2022. "Racial and gender achievement gaps in an economics classroom," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    7. Wayne Geerling & Kristofer Nagy & Elaine Rhee & Jadrian Wooten, 2021. "Using K-Pop to Teach Indifference Curve Analysis, Behavioral Economics and Game Theory," Monash Economics Working Papers 2021-18, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    8. Amanda Bayer & Gregory Bruich & Raj Chetty & Andrew Housiaux, 2020. "Expanding and diversifying the pool of undergraduates who study economics: Insights from a new introductory course at Harvard," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3-4), pages 364-379, September.
    9. Todd Pugatch & Elizabeth Schroeder, 2021. "Promoting Female Interest in Economics: Limits to Nudges," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 111, pages 123-127, May.
    10. Tan Shaojie & Arshad Abd Samad & Lilliati Ismail, 2024. "The Influence of Meta-Cognitive Listening Strategies on Listening Performance in the MALL: The Mediation Effect of Learning Style and Self-Efficacy," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(2), pages 21582440241, May.
    11. David Sabiston & Ambrose Leung & Gianfranco Terrazzano, 2017. "Learning styles and performance in principles of economics: does the gender gap exist?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(4), pages 2935-2944.
    12. Leonard C. Smith, 2009. "An Analysis Of The Impact Of Pedagogic Interventions In First‐Year Academic Development And Mainstream Courses In Microeconomics," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 77(1), pages 162-178, March.
    13. Depro, Brooks & Rouse, Kathryn, 2022. "Adapting the case method in an economics capstone research course," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    14. Ahlstrom, Laura J. & Harter, Cynthia & Asarta, Carlos J., 2023. "Teaching methods and materials in undergraduate economics courses: School, instructor, and department effects," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    15. Susan Offutt & Jill McCluskey, 2022. "How women saved agricultural economics," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(1), pages 4-22, March.
    16. Bateman, Victoria & Hengel, Erin, 2023. "The gender gap in UK academic economics 1996-2018: progress, stagnation and retreat," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118205, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. MARÍN MARTÍNEZ, Carmen & ROSA GARCÍA, Alfonso, 2014. "Is Gender Bias A Cost Of Failure Issue?," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 14(3), pages 19-30.
    18. Kudayja M. Parker, 2010. "Does Attendance At A Historically White University Benefit Non‐White Students Of Introductory Economics In South Africa?," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 78(2), pages 208-218, June.
    19. Jamie Alcock & Sophie Cockcroft & Frank Finn, 2008. "Quantifying the advantage of secondary mathematics study for accounting and finance undergraduates," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(5), pages 697-718, December.
    20. Pm Horn & Ai Jansen, 2009. "An Investigation Into The Impact Of Tutorials On The Performance Of Economics Students," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 77(1), pages 179-189, March.

    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:gam:jjrfmx:v:16:y:2023:i:3:p:160-:d:1084658. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.