Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 January 2015
Many states are adopting economic education standards for the K-12curriculum, mandating economic education courses in rural and urban schools.We examine economic education outcomes for rural and urban students usingtest scores gathered during a national high school academic competition andby estimating a production function for economic education. We find onlylimited differences between the education production function in urban andrural settings and lower average scores for rural students. To close thisgap, results suggest that rural schools should place economic content in thesenior-year curriculum and provide teachers with increased postgraduatetraining in economics.