Around two-thirds of the public say they have never had any formal education and training in economics. 21  In practice, that fraction may be higher still. And  almost half of all people never discuss economic and financial matters, or do so no more than once a 22  month. Why This Matters  If economists are a remote and mistrusted tribe, and if the public feel their understanding of this tribe is inadequate, does this matter? Yes. The reason we know this is because the general public say so. In a recent UK survey, over 80% of people said that economics was relevant, or very relevant, to their everyday lives. 23  Respondents expressed a clear desire to improve their understanding of economics, to  help them when managing money, voting or understanding the economy. Like economists, the general public also think that the Twin Deficits are reason to purse lips, suck teeth and take sharp intakes of breath. It is not difficult to see why. Imagine that, instead of economists plumbing the depths of the trust league table, it was high-flying doctors. A loss of public trust and understanding in our health services would impose significant costs on society. Fewer sick people would seek expert medical advice. Non-expert, alternative medicine would rise in popularity. And there would be an increased risk of medical scare stories taking root. There is plenty of evidence to suggest these costs can be considerable.
Turning to economics, the educational pyramid could not be more different (Figure 2). It is more diamond than pyramid. Economics is not a compulsory part of the school curriculum at any stage. Up to age 16, economics forms only a very small part of PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education), a voluntary part of the curriculum. Surveys suggest that PSHE provision is patchy and has decreased significantly in recent years. 56  Among early-years children, there is little foundation for learning everyday economics. 57  Beyond 14, students at some schools can opt to study economics. In practice, only around a third of schools offer this option. As a result, in 2016/17 only just over 9,000 students across the UK studied GCSE economics, typically between the ages of 14 and 16. That is a tiny 1.4% of the student population in that age range. These numbers have been flat over the past decade. More than a decade into their educational lives, then, the vast majority of students have had virtually no exposure to economics and business. Beyond age 16 the number of schools offering, and students studying, economics picks up - the pyramid begins to widen. Around 33,000 students completed A-Level economics in the UK in 2016/17, typically studying between the ages 16 to 18. Encouragingly, these numbers have swelled, by around 70%, over the past ten years. That remains only 4.3% of the total number of young people in this age range.