Are you smarter than a fifth grader?

Economist Daniel Klein highlights the results of his formal study on economic enlightenment using a Zogby survey in his recent WSJ article "Are you smarter than a fifth grader."  So here is your chance to test your basic economic knowledge.  The eight survey questions asked are: 1) Mandatory licensing of professional services increases the prices of those services. 2) Overall, the standard of living is higher today than it was 30 years ago. 3) Rent control leads to housing shortages. 4) A company with the largest market share is a monopoly. 5) Third World workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited. 6) Free trade leads to unemployment. 7) Minimum wage laws raise unemployment. 8) Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable.


The choices for the questions are 1) strongly agree; 2) somewhat agree; 3) somewhat disagree; 4) strongly disagree; 5) are not sure.


So how did you do?  What do your answers say about you?  Well, Klein argues that economic knowledge informs our political views.   Klein writes "How did the six ideological groups do overall? Here they are,  best to worst, with an average number of incorrect responses from 0 to 8: Very conservative, 1.30; Libertarian, 1.38; Conservative, 1.67; Moderate, 3.67; Liberal, 4.69; Progressive/very liberal, 5.26."


Simple economic literacy goes a long way for individuals to be able to evaluate policy positions.  This is why I tell my students that economics is pervasive in their lives and why it is important for them to understand basic economic principles.