Where Is the Economics in Economic Education? Another View

In Richard McKenzie's article, Where Is the Economics in Economic Education? published in this journal (Fall 1977), the author objects to the production function character of the education model and to econometric research on economic education based on that model. He faults the subsidization of economic education, questions the citizenship argument for economic education, apparently believes that individuals simply through self-interest response to market forces can determine how much economics it is beneficial for them to know, and most probably overstates not only the variance between individually and collectively established goals but also the disagreement among economists regarding the content of basic courses in economics. Though I shall present an alternative view here, it is intended to reduce rather than intensify disagreement among economists or between them and economic educators.