CLASS SIZE AND ACHIEVEMENT IN INTRODUCTORY ECONOMICS - EVIDENCE FROM THE TUCE-III DATA

Does class size affect achievement in introductory economics? This pap er addresses this question using a national economic education data ba se (TUCE III), consolidating these data so that each observation repre sents a single class rather than a single student, thereby alleviating several estimation problems that plague empirical work in this area. Our results indicate that class size does not affect student achieveme nt, and further, that class characteristics over which instructors or department chairs have control also do not influence achievement. Thes e results are remarkably robust to different specifications so long as students' Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores are used to control f or ability and account is taken of whether the TUCE test result counte d toward the students' final grade. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.