If Students Only Take One Econ Course, What Should They Learn?

Let’s say you’re writing a syllabus for the only economics class a student might ever take. What would you teach? That’s the question on the mind of Avi Cohen, a professor of economics at York University in Toronto, Canada. For Cohen, the answer lies in the literacy-targeted approach to teaching, which argues that it is more valuable for students to be able to apply core economic concepts well than to be exposed to a wide range of concepts they may soon forget.  In this episode, Cohen explains to St. Louis Fed Economic Education Officer Scott Wolla how this approach can help all students, even those who go on to pursue a career in economics.