Human Capital in The Classroom: The Role of Teacher Knowledge in Economic Literacy

Abstract

Renewed emphasis on increasing student academic achievement highlights the importance of improving educational quality despite limited educational budgets. This paper illustrates that investing in teachers' human capital has significant returns in the classroom. Using test and survey data on the educational background of teachers, we show that teacher knowledge and training have a significant impact on student performance and classroom productivity. Specifically, formal college-level instruction, learning by doing, and explicit measures of economic understanding all play important roles. Additionally, the data show that general in-service training is an imperfect substitute for formal education in economics. These results can be used to guide educational research, instructional programming, and school reform at the state and local levels.

Harmonious relations: quality transmission among composers in the very long run

“…Our research also relates to studies of human capital acquisition, and the contribution of teachers to students' outcomes (Angrist and Lavy, 2001;Bold et al, 2019;Bosshardt and Watts, 1990;Butters et al, 2011;Hanushek et al, 2019;Ost, 2014;Schober, 1984). A general finding is that student performance improves with teacher experience.…”

Harmonious Relations: Quality transmission among composers in the very long run

“…Our research also relates to studies of human capital acquisition, and the contribution of teachers to students' outcomes (Angrist and Lavy, 2001;Bold et al, 2019;Bosshardt and Watts, 1990;Butters et al, 2011;Hanushek et al, 2019;Ost, 2014;Schober, 1984). A general finding is that student performance improves with teacher experience.…”

Choosing a Business or Economics Study Program at University: The Role of the Economics Teacher

“…Regarding this, there is evidence that teachers strongly influence students' interest in school subjects (e.g., Krauss et al 2008;Upmeier zu Belzen and Christen 2004). Studies in the field of economics provide evidence of positive effects on students' economic competencies (see, e.g., Compen et al 2021), whereby many studies refer to the U.S. educational system (e.g., Allgood and Walstad 1999;Dills and Placone 2008;Butters et al 2011;Totenhagen et al 2015;Maxwell et al 2005). This provides great evidence in support of the assumption that economics teachers' professional knowledge positively influences students' economic competencies at the end of upper secondary education, especially their domain-specific attitudes and interest, as well as their school grades in economics.…”