Pareto-Improving the Principles Course
Both Micro/Macro Economics for Life use a literacy-targeted (LT) approach to teaching principles, which traces back to Nobel Prize winner George Stigler. The LT approach argues that it is far more valuable for students to understand and apply core economic concepts well than to be exposed to a wide range of concepts they will soon forget.1
The potential benefits of an LT approach come from some astounding numbers. Sixty to 75% of North American post-secondary students never take any economics! Of the students who do take principles, over 80% are one-and-done — they never take another economics course. And only 2% go on to major in economics.2 There is clearly an opportunity to do better, and there’s growing evidence that an LT approach will help.
Just like traditional approaches to teaching principles, the LT approach aims to create economically literate students who can “think like an economist.” The LT approach differs because it answers the question — What should go into the only economics course that students will ever take, while not disadvantaging majors? The LT approach to principles is designed to create a Pareto improvement by:
- Attracting more students who would otherwise not take economics;
- Improving the success and retention of one-and-done students; and,
- Ensuring that students who do become economics majors are not disadvantaged.
By appealing to, and better serving, a broader audience than the traditional approach to teaching principles, the LT approach also aligns well with the discipline’s growing interest in improving diversity and inclusion.3
It is equally important that the LT focus on mastering and applying core concepts meets the requirement for economics majors. A University of Toronto study, using an 11-year dataset with over 13,000 students compares the performance in intermediate micro/macro theory and statistics courses of students taking traditional principles courses with students taking LT courses using Micro/Macro Economics for Life.4
The results — no significant differences in grades in intermediate theory or statistics! The authors of this and a similar study at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill5, attribute the results to the extra course time devoted to mastering fewer topics through enrichment and application assessments that create deeper and more durable learning.6
Micro/Macro Economics for Life can meet the needs of all students — the 80+ percent who take only principles, as well as students who pursue higher-level economics courses — yielding better outcomes and experiences for the many one-and-done students, while leaving majors just as well off. These texts are researched, designed, and proven to deliver these Pareto-improving outcomes.