Figuring Figures: Exploring Europeans’ Knowledge of Official Economic Statistics

Abstract

Economic issues have been a major concern for Europeans in the last few years. In this context, it is reasonable to suppose that people are aware of the main economic figures regarding Europe. But are they really familiar with them? Do they know what the rates of growth, unemployment and inflation are?The aim of this article is to explore the level of knowledge of these three economic indicators among Europeans. Several regression models are specified and estimated in order to identify the relationship between an individual's knowledge and their socioeconomic profile, use of the Internet, perceived importance of economic issues and official statistics and trust in them. Cross-country differences are also assessed.

The delusive economy: how information and affect colour perceptions of national economic performance

“…Earlier studies from Germany (Mohr et al 2014 ) and Italy (Fullone et al 2008 ) had come to similar conclusions. Pan-European studies also show significant cross-country differences (Papacostas 2008 ; Vicente and López 2017 ), some of which may be attributed to socio-economic differences between countries (e.g. different average levels of education) or national economic conditions.…”

“…Our empirical analysis uses two Eurobarometer (EB) waves, with respondent-level information that we use to proxy key explanatory variables. Vicente and López ( 2017 ) have analyzed differences in economic knowledge using one of the EB waves (2015) that we analyze as well. Although many of our variables coincide with theirs, their analysis is less theory-driven and more focused on cross-country differences, uses a different specification, and does not include the earlier EB wave (which we leverage to compare pre-Eurozone crisis to post-crisis levels of public economic knowledge, cf.…”

“…Empirical research has raised doubts about such knowledge-both regarding economics as commonly taught in schools and universities (Blendon et al 1997;Shiller 1997;Blinder and Krueger 2004;Medrano and Braun 2012;Rho and Tomz 2017) and macroeconomic statistics (Del Giovane et al 2009;Fullone et al 2008;Papacostas 2008;Ansolabehere et al 2013Ansolabehere et al , 2014Mohr et al 2014;Vicente and López 2017;Runge and Hudson 2020). One Spanish survey found more than 80 percent of respondents claiming "little or no knowledge" about the effects of raising or lifting trade barriers (Medrano and Braun 2012).…”

“…The state of economic perceptions: descriptive analysis Vicente and López (2017) have analyzed the second wave of the Eurobarometer (EB 83.3) in a study for the Journal of Official Statistics. They place heavy emphasis on describing the data and on differences in estimate accuracy across countries.…”

The economic effects of perceptions of the Russia-Ukraine war in Ecuador

“…Previous studies have suggested that the public tends to identify internal economic crises that a country may undergo ( Berry & McDaniel, 2022 ), specially university students when the crises directly affect their job market prospects ( Chen & Yur-Austin, 2016 ). However, this judgment largely correlates with economic knowledge, which varies across socio-demographic cohorts ( Vicente & López, 2017 ). In that sense, we consider it pertinent to explore university students’ economic perceptions and opinions regarding an external conflict that, prima facie , has nothing to do with their homeland and analyze whether these preconceptions are reflected in their responses.…”