Economic literacy among beginning higher education economics students in Japan and Germany and its socio-demographic influencing factors

Abstract

In view of cross-national student mobility and increasing internationalization of the labor market, a common understanding of economic concepts as well as awareness for country-specific factors influencing economics education is essential. Therefore, the development of instruments that allow for comparable investigation across countries is crucial. The present study describes economic education in Japan and Germany and explores the specific conditions for access to higher education in each country. On this basis, we examine the level of economic literacy (using TEL-IV) at the beginning of higher education among 232 German and 198 Japanese students of Business & Economics and the impact of personal influencing factors thereon. Overall, comparable entry levels can be observed, whereby each student group shows different response patterns. Predicting economic literacy, primarily gender and interest reach significance. A final outlook regarding the significance of cross-national studies is given, taking limitations and implications of this study into account.

The linkage between economic literacy and students’ intention of starting business: The mediating role of entrepreneurial alertness

“…Economic literacy enables students to acknowledge and involve basic economic terms and the way of thinking to raise and gain prosperity (Reichert-Schlax et al, 2022). Economic literacy is pivotal to raising knowledge about the costs or benefits of an item in economic and business activity (Jappelli, 2010).…”