Example Image
Civitas Outlook
Topic
Economic Dynamism
Published on
Apr 8, 2023
Contributors
Wayne Geerling
Jadrian Wooten
Dirk Mateer
Nikhil Damodaran
Image: "My first computer" (Wikimedia Commons, 02/06/2025)

ChatGPT has Aced the Test of Understanding in College Economics: Now What?

Contributors
Wayne Geerling
Wayne Geerling
Wayne Geerling
Jadrian Wooten
Jadrian Wooten
Jadrian Wooten
Dirk Mateer
Dirk Mateer
Senior Fellow
Dirk Mateer
Nikhil Damodaran
Nikhil Damodaran
Nikhil Damodaran
Summary
The rise of artificial intelligence in higher education, specifically natural language models like ChatGPT, presents a new challenge to educators.
Summary
The rise of artificial intelligence in higher education, specifically natural language models like ChatGPT, presents a new challenge to educators.
Listen to this article

The Test of Understanding in College Economics (TUCE) is a standardized test of economics knowledge performed in the United States which primarily targets principles-level understanding. We asked ChatGPT to complete the TUCE. ChatGPT ranked in the 91st percentile for Microeconomics and the 99th percentile for Macroeconomics when compared to students who take the TUCE exam at the end of their principles course. The results show that ChatGPT is capable of providing answers that exceed the mean responses of students across all institutions. The emergence of artificial intelligence presents a significant challenge to traditional assessment methods in higher education. An important implication of this finding is that educators will likely need to redesign their curriculum in at least one of the following three ways: reintroduce proctored, in-person assessments; augment learning with chatbots; and/or increase the prevalence of experiential learning projects that artificial intelligence struggles to replicate well.

Read the Full Paper

This paper was originally published by The American Economist

Continue Reading & Download PDF
10:13
1x
10:13
More articles

Dissident Blessings in the Negative World

Pursuit of Happiness
May 1, 2025

Why Reciprocal Trade Negotiations Will Fail

Economic Dynamism
Apr 30, 2025
View all

Join the newsletter

Receive new publications, news, and updates from the Civitas Institute.

Sign up
More on

Economic Dynamism

Partisan Trust in the Federal Reserve

This paper examines partisanship in public perceptions of the Federal Reserve.

Carola Binder, Cody Couture, Abhiprerna Smit
Economic Dynamism
Apr 22, 2025
The American Dream Is Not a Coin Flip, and Wages Have Not Stagnated

This paper challenges the prevailing narrative that stagnant wages are causing the American dream to fade. It contrasts subjective public opinion with revised objective intergenerational mobility measures.

Scott Winship
Economic Dynamism
Mar 6, 2025
Political Economy and the Rise of Commercial Humanism

Western attitudes toward commerce have transformed from early moral condemnation to a modern appreciation that sees trade as socially beneficial.

Erik Matson
Economic Dynamism
Feb 28, 2025
Why Failure-to-Market Claims Are Preempted Under Federal Law

A California appellate court invented out of whole cloth a new and troubling theory of tort liability.

Richard Epstein, Benjamin Flowers
Economic Dynamism
Feb 5, 2025
No items found.
A Bad Business on the Bayou

Chevron finds itself the victim of a political alliance between the tort bar and Louisiana Republicans.

Michael Toth
Economic Dynamism
Apr 1, 2025
Congress Must Shield US Companies from European Regulations

Congress should exercise its constitutional powers over foreign commerce to guard American companies against overregulation by the European Union.

Michael Toth
Economic Dynamism
Mar 27, 2025
ESG Would Rain on Spring Break

Americans have access to abundant, reliable energy, unlike Europeans under strict climate mandates.

Michael Toth
Economic Dynamism
Mar 10, 2025
These Mayors Understand How to Run a City

Armed with common sense policies, three urban leaders are fighting a patient battle against chaos.

Joel Kotkin
Economic Dynamism
Jan 24, 2025

Virginia Postrel and Adam Thierer on Big Trends and Big Ideas in Dynamism

Economic Dynamism
Apr 29, 2025
1:05

Joel Mokyr on American Dynamism vs. Techno-pessimism

Economic Dynamism
Apr 29, 2025
1:05

Arthur Herman on Mobility, Markets, and Natural Law

Economic Dynamism
Apr 29, 2025
1:05

Dignity and Dynamism: The Future of Conservative Technology Policy

Economic Dynamism
Mar 5, 2025
1:05

Edward Glaeser on Dynamism and Stagnation

Economic Dynamism
May 8, 2024
1:05
No items found.
No items found.
Why Reciprocal Trade Negotiations Will Fail

Reciprocal trade agreements are doomed mainly because the division of labor creates huge gains through specialization.

Richard Epstein
Economic Dynamism
Apr 30, 2025
What Is MAGA Antitrust?

The novel element in this new antitrust concoction is its ultimate subservience to the President.

Jessica Melugin
Economic Dynamism
Apr 28, 2025
The Sound of Five Thousand Banks Collapsing

With the passage of the Federal Reserve Act, many hoped that the new Federal Reserve Banks would make future financial crises impossible.

Alex J. Pollock
Economic Dynamism
Apr 25, 2025
Canada Needs a Pro-Growth Economic Strategy More Than Ever

Canada has stopped growing over the past decade, with per capita growth rates at the bottom of all OECD countries and per capita GDP levels almost unchanged since the mid-2010s.

Jonathan Hartley
Economic Dynamism
Apr 24, 2025
No items found.