St. Louis Fed Economist Answers Teachers’ Pressing Questions

What’s happening to inflation? Who really determines oil prices? What can the Federal Reserve do about the economy? These and several other economics questions were answered by Ed Nelson, economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, at an Aug. 1 conference titled: “Now I Get It: The Economy Unplugged.” The annual conference for educators, held at the University of Kentucky’s Shelby campus, was sponsored by the St. Louis Fed’s Louisville Branch in collaboration with the Kentucky Council on Economic Education. More than 40 area teachers from grades 4 through 12 attended.

Nelson presented an overview of the Federal Reserve System and how the Fed manages the U.S. economy. Hands-on teaching activities were also offered during the conference so that teachers could improve their classroom instruction.

Participants were particularly interested in Nelson’s discussions of oil prices and energy supply and demand. As expected, many wanted to know what the futures market was projecting. As one participant put it, “Is the price of a barrel going up to $100?” Nelson said that there would have to be a real emergency for the price to increase to that level. “The futures market is not predicting a future war with oil-producing countries, but if that happens, all bets are off,” Nelson said in reply.

Feedback from participants indicated that focusing on current topics can make teaching the subject of economics timely, interesting and relevant. One high school teacher noted, “This type of program prepares teachers to effectively discuss these types of issues in a classroom environment.”