In some states, children as young as five years old are being taught economic concepts and ideas, according to the National Council on Economic Education, which provides economic training to 120,000 grade-school teachers each year. By the time these students reach college, the subject is easier to grasp than it was for students of earlier generations. Economics also is viewed by more students as a ticket to the nation's top business and law schools. Admissions officers say the students are right. It shows they have the intellectual fire in the belly to perform well in an MBA program.
Many law schools feel the same way.
And, apparently, help at scoring high on standardized exams, including the Law School Admissions Test. Out of a possible LSAT score of 180, economics majors average about 155, ranking highest in a study of the most common majors for law school applicants in 1992 and 1995 by Michael Nieswiadomy, a professor of economics at the University of North Texas. When the study was expanded to include less-common majors, however, economics was edged out by mathematics, physics, philosophy and religion. For many students, however, economics is just the quickest way to land a good job. By the time he graduated in June, he had dropped the politics for economics alone.