Ferraro and Taylor (2005) asked 199 professional economists a multiple-choice question about opportunity cost. Given that only 21.6% answered “correctly,” they conclude that professional understanding of the concept is “dismal.” We challenge this critique of the profession. Specifically,...

The principles of economics course is the most common entry point for economic education and commands more attention among researchers than any other college-level course in the discipline. Over a period of 40 years, the senior author of this paper (K.G.E.) has taught this course to over 35,000...

The term “margin of error” is often erroneously explained in news articles reporting the results of public-opinion polls. We present here a number of representative examples of such misinterpretations drawn from the popular news media as well as from a number of authoritative Web sites...

An extensive literature in education shows little relationship between teaching and research. Authors advance the notion that research enhances teaching, but they typically ignore the prospect of teaching enhancing research. We report the results of a survey of active researchers in economics...

The concept of comparative advantage is a fundamental tool in economics. Yet, it is a concept that new students of economics frequently find challenging to grasp. In this interactive classroom game, I highlight the three essential lessons of comparative advantage: (i) individuals can have a...