How Economists Read Economic Texts

Abstract

Using a “think aloud” framework previously applied to history, this research leads the investigation in how economists read economics text to improve students’ abilities to meet standards calling for reading, thinking, writing, and speaking like practitioners. Economic education has the reputation for being a difficult subject to teach and learn which is evidenced by disappointing individual and national economic literacy outcomes. This research finds precision, close reading, sourcing, and re-reading to be important practices of economists, and begins to fill the gap in the disciplinary literacy and economic education literatures providing direction for research and disciplinary literacy tools for educators.