Effects of the High School Economics Curriculum on Learning in the College Principles Class

Much has been written about whether taking a high school economics class affects initial knowledge and learning in college macro or micro principles classes. The results of several studies indicate that high school economics helps students in their college principles classes, whereas the results of other studies suggest that high school economics either has no effect or even puts students at a disadvantage in their college principles class. My contention is that these conflicting results may not reflect the quality of high school economics per se but may reflect the great variation in the content and curriculum of high school economics classes.