‘Economic literacy’ is a phrase that we don’t hear much. But it’s going to become more important in the days ahead. We face a growing mountain of critical economic issues and problems:  Health care, taxes,  budget deficits, the financial crisis, unemployment,  trade, protectionism, minimum wage, antitrust, innovation, growth, retirement, and education.  The list goes on and on.

What’s more, there’s no single right answer to any of these. I can line up reputable economists on both sides of almost any economic topic—sometimes three or four sides.

As voters and citizens,  Americans   have a strong desire to understand these issues.  I’ve seen this over and over again. People want to know how the economy works, they want to know if the problems that they see in their daily lives have solutions, they want to know what their choices are.

But there’s a big gap in economic literacy. Journalistic pieces on the economy are accessible and easy to read, but they rarely provide the basic economic theory and principles.   That’s true both in print and online . (Incidentally, I’m not criticizing my fellow economic journalists–I’ve found the same problem with my own stories).

By contrast, most economic textbooks give the dry theory without much connection to current events. In my own intro textbook, Economics:The Basics, I try to work in as much of today’s news as possible—but after all, it’s still a textbook.

What people really want, I think, is a combination of the accessibility of journalism  with a basic grounding in economic thinking.  They want interesting stories about today’s economy  and they want to understand the real underlying theory.

In other words, the goal of economic literacy is to get Americans the information and understanding about the economy that they need to make informed decisions. This will likely require a combination of print, online, and video.

Now, there are plenty of groups who deal with economic literacy for school children, like the National Council on Economic Education. And college students, of course, get to take basic economics courses.  But for adults who care about the economic choices that we make as a society, the options are much sparser. That needs to change.