Economic Literacy: How Well is Malaysia?

Economic literacy can be considered an important skill for individuals to guide them in making the right decision. The importance of having an economically literate society is not only necessary due to the possibility that it would allow individuals and households to optimize their resources and enhance their well-being, but more importantly to alleviate the negative externalities of society's economic illiteracy that could adversely affect the well-being of the nation at large. Therefore, this exploratory study aims to provide some indication on the level of economic literacy or awareness among Malaysians. A survey is conducted using a set of questions on economic knowledge, known as Test of Economic Literacy (TEL) on 2, 358 Malaysian adults. The finding reveals that Malaysian economic literacy rate is at 40%, indicative of significant ignorant on basic economics understanding. It also shows that economic literacy among Malaysians increase with the level of education and exposure to formal economic education. Hence, policies should be introduced to offer economics courses at an early stage of education and making high school economics