ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the links between general economic literacy and growth in a nation in which both market and political processes affect the level and structure of economic activity. In a narrow sense the general state of economic literacy or understanding is or ought to be irrelevant in terms of the advance of human well-being. Another problem is the counterintuitive nature of even elementary implications of economic analysis. Many in Congress claim to believe that price controls on prescription drugs will make consumers in the medical market better off. Steven Buckles, president of the National Council on Economic Education, one of the groups of organizations that sponsored the Gallup survey, comments that “economic illiteracy is rampant. It has the potential to misshape public opinion on economic issues and lead to policies that have perverse effects on the economy.”
