Publication: Journal of Economic Education
Volume: Volume 27, No. 3
Issue: Summer 1996
Pages: 233-237
Author(s): Sarapage McCorkle (University of Missouri), and Michael Watts (Purdue University)
Address (Principal Author):Michael Watts, Purdue University, Department of Economics, 1310 Krannert Building, Room 234, West Lafayette, IN 47907, (317) 494-8543
Internet Address (Principal Author): bfp@mgmt.purdue.edu
Title: Free Riding Indices for Ukrainian Economics Teachers
Abstract: Until recently, economics teachers in the former Soviet bloc received training and taught courses that were quite different from Western economics coursework. Surprisingly, in November 1993, when 49 university, secondary, and elementary economics teachers from eastern Ukraine participated in a classroom experiment designed to teach public goods and free-rider problems, they chose free-riding responses at rates very similar to those found in an undergraduate class on public economics at the University of Illinois, where the experiment was developed. This suggests that, even internationally and under different economic and educational systems, those who choose to become economists may do so because they have special skills in deductive logic and recognizing opportunities for gain, which are present before they learn Western economics.