“Tis Early Practice only Makes the Master”: Nature and Nurture in Economic Thinking During School Time – A Research Note on Economics Education

Abstract In this article, we contribute to the longstanding debate among economists regarding the question of “nature or nurture” with respect to economics students’ attitudes toward various allocation mechanisms for a scarce resource. While previous research starts the debate by beginning with first-year economics students, we aim to evaluate pre-first-year individuals, i.e., school pupils. Drawing on the seminal works of Haucap, J., & Just, T. (2010). Not guilty? Another look at the nature and nurture of economics students. European Journal of Law and Economics, 29(2), 239–254 and Frey, B. S., Pommerehne, W. W., & Gygi, B. (1993). Economics indoctrination or selection? Some empirical results. The Journal of Economic Education, 24(3), 271–281, we investigate a sample of 697 pupils ranging from the 5th to the 13th grades to determine whether pupils are “born economists” (nature), develop economic thinking (nurture), or both. We find that young individuals start to think differently in early grades and that their thinking and attitudes are shaped differently throughout their school careers, thereby providing support for the effects of both nature and nurture. Our findings show that school time impacts fairness judgments, particularly regarding price mechanisms. Regarding learning or indoctrination, we find that economics-inclined pupils are positively affected by lessons in economics in school, while pupils who are economics-averse draw completely diametric conclusions from economics lessons, thereby exhibiting increased disapproval of price allocation over the course of these classes and increased approval of the first come, first served and governmental action mechanisms. Moreover, we find strong effects of gender and migration background in this context. This study is the first to elucidate the development of economic thinking in 5th–13th grade pupils. Our results are important for economists, educators, and researchers because they can serve as a starting point for subsequent investigations in this under-researched field.