Test your Economic IQ
Recently Zeljka Buturovic and Daniel Klein published the results of Zogby survey of American adults regarding their understanding of economics. (Entire article in the Econ Journal Watch). Why don’t you check your own economic IQ? For each question, choose your answer from the following:
- Agree
- Disagree
- Not sure
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Economic IQ Test |
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Question |
Your Response |
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Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable. |
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Mandatory licensing of professional services increases the price of those services. |
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Overall, the standard of living is higher today than it was 30 years ago. |
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Rent control leads to housing shortages. |
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A company with the largest market share is a monopoly. |
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Third-world workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited. |
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Free trade leads to unemployment. |
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Minimum wage laws raise unemployment. |
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Poll Results--Who Scored Higher? For extra credit, see if you can guess which group scored higher? |
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Group |
Answer |
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College graduates or non-college graduates? |
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Women or men? |
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Wal-Mart shoppers or all others |
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NASCAR fans or all others |
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Members of which political party: Democrats, Constitution, Independents, Republicans, Libertarians, or Green |
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Single or married people? |
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A summary of this survey also appeared in a Wall Street Journal editorial by Daniel Klein, under the title Are You Smarter than a Fifth-Grader?
What do you think about this test? Were the questions biased or fair? How about the answers? How do you explain the results? What does your economic IQ tell you about investing in single-samily rental homes in Houston?
I’d like to hear your opinions, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call me at 888-666-6402.