Many states are adopting economic education standards for the K-12
curriculum, mandating economic education courses in rural and urban schools.
We examine economic education outcomes for rural and urban students using
test scores gathered during a national high school academic competition and
by estimating a production function for economic education. We find only
limited differences between the education production function in urban and
rural settings and lower average scores for rural students. To close this
gap, results suggest that rural schools should place economic content in the
senior-year curriculum and provide teachers with increased postgraduate
training in economics.