Determining the economic literacy of introductory economic students in South Africa

Abstract

The TUCE is a test of economic literacy which is used to allow lecturers of economics to compare student performance in economics in their classes. The results of the TUCE indicated that the majority of students struggled with the questions of the TUCE. The poor economic literacy rate raised the question whether or not the TUCE is an appropriate measure of testing economic literacy in South Africa. This paper developed the Test of Understanding Economics in South Africa which is a test of economic literacy that was developed for South Africa. The TUESA was distributed to universities in South Africa to determine the economic literacy rate among introductory economics students. The significance of certain demographic factors was tested with regard to the mean literacy score and the effect of grade 12 economics on students’ economic literacy score was investigated. Results indicated that the economic literacy rate for South African students was 50.3%.