Congress Gets Quizzed on Econ

D.C.'s subway has sprouted a bunch of ads urging economic literacy on our lawmakers. They ask things like: "On average, how much does the owner get for every $100 of a restaurant's sales? (a) $3, (b) $5 (c) $10 (d) $45."

The ads are posted by a group called Econ4U, which also tossed this line into my inbox recently:

A Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy (CEEL) analysis of economic education among congressional members revealed that less than 15% of current members have degrees in the business, economics, or finance fields.    The research showed that 30.5% of congressional members studied politics and government, while 18.1% majored in humanities.  In fact there are more members who studied science (7.5%) than economics (6.7%).

Looks like Sen. John "economics is not something I've understood as well as I should" McCain has company on the Hill.

The answer, by the by, to the restaurant question, is (b) $5.