What Numbers Do Teachers Need to Know to Make Sense of Political Campaigns?

The rhetoric of political campaigns is loaded with references about the economy. Terms such as unemployment, recession, and GDP are often used carelessly, without regard to definitions or qualifications. That makes economists cringe and is a special problem for social studies teachers who are expected to know about such things. In this article, we offer a primer on economic concepts that are associated with election campaigns. Such a primer may help social studies teachers better understand and teach the economic rhetoric in campaign ads and speeches. In the first part of the article, we review the macroeconomic forces that drive our economy. The second part contains a review of the economic forces that influenced the presidential elections from 1976 onward.