Reading, Writing, and Relevant Cost?

As a high school student, I never learned economics -- home, macro, or otherwise. Interestingly enough I went to a math and science-focused magnet school, so I was better prepared to handle infinitesimals than interest rates.

In fact, my personal finance education started right about the time I walked into mu college bookstore to buy my textbooks and was handed a Visa application. Fast forward a few years and I was the proud carrier of about 10 platinum cards and a whopping amount of gut-churning, insomnia-producing debt.

I learned most of my early economic lessons the hard way - by mistake.

Unfortunately it seems that my learning experience is the norm. In today's New York Times Freakonomics blog Stephen Dubner asks, “Are We a Nation of Financial Illiterates?” The sad answer is probably yes. And Stephen turns to Annamaria Lusardi, a professor of economics at Dartmouth, who has some answers that make sense.