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Today’s Lessons =
Tomorrow’s
Financial Stability
and Success
ANNUAL REPORT 2016

The St. Louis Fed Soars into 2017 with a New Logo
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis unveiled a new corporate
logo in 2017, featuring a soaring eagle as the central image.
The striking, contemporary eagle reflects the St. Louis Fed’s
orientation to the future and embodies the confidence that the
public has entrusted in the Bank throughout its history, dating back to 1914. The new logo is only the third in the Bank’s
history. It serves as a bold symbol of the St. Louis Fed’s core
mission of promoting a healthy economy and financial stability.

ECONOMIC
LITERACY
FOR
LIFE
Today’s Lessons = Tomorrow’s
Financial Stability and Success
ANNUAL REPORT 2016

Published April 19, 2017 | www.stlouisfed.org/annual-report/2016

A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

F O R

L I F E

Economic Literacy for Life Essays
On a Mission to Educate One and All

L I T E R A C Y

President’s Message

E C O N O M I C

TABLE OF
CONTENTS

It’s Never Too Early to Start

For Better or Worse, Your Decisions Matter

Invest in Human Capital to Build a Better Future

Take Our Quiz

Our People, Our Work

Our Leaders, Our Advisers

Chair’s Message

Boards of Directors, Advisory Councils, Bank Officers

Our financial statements are available online. To read them, go to the website for the annual report,
www.stlouisfed.org/annual-report/2016, and click on the financial statements button in the navigation.

Teach One, Reach Many

A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Our educational efforts matter
because an individual’s financial decisions—both good and bad—ripple out to

Statistics confirm that there is much room for
improvement. A recent survey of American adults
included several questions designed to assess the
level of financial literacy in the population.1 The survey showed, for instance, that only 33 percent of
respondents correctly answered a question about
how long it would take for debt to double with a

veryone needs to have an understanding
of how the economy works to compete
in today’s world. Yet, as a society, we
have underinvested in economic education and financial literacy. In serving in my role as
CEO of the St. Louis Fed, I often hear from business, civic and community leaders that the current
workforce must be more financially trained for us
all to advance.

L I F E

James Bullard is president and CEO of the St. Louis Fed.

What can we at the St. Louis Fed do
about these shortcomings? We know
from our research, programs and outreach that economic education and
financial literacy are critical building
blocks to teach individuals how to secure
a good-paying job, pay their bills, plan
for their future and that of their families,
and be good citizens. We also know that
economic education must start when
children are young—preschoolers even—
and continue into adulthood and retirement. That is why the St. Louis Fed has
made a significant commitment in terms
of investment and resources to advance
economic education for all.

F O R

Other questions in the survey covered
topics such as saving and planning. In
this area, the survey revealed that only
58 percent of non-retired respondents
have a retirement account, and only 41
percent of those with financially dependent children report saving for their
children’s college expenses.

L I T E R A C Y

given interest rate that is compounded
annually. As another example, only 59
percent of respondents recognized that
money in a savings account would buy
less one year later if the inflation rate
was higher than the return on savings.

E C O N O M I C

OUR LEADERSHIP
IN LITERACY

“ n 2016, we reached nearly 500,000 students
across the 50 states through teachers who

attended our training programs.”

A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

James Bullard, President and CEO

others. What affects households can,
in turn, impact communities and, from
there, can positively or negatively
influence the soundness of the
economy overall.2

A Leader in the System
The St. Louis Fed is a leader in the
Federal Reserve System when it comes
to developing programs that enhance
financial literacy and economic education. We are also skilled here at our
Bank in applying rigorous researchbased methods to track pre- and posttest outcomes for students, which help
us validate the quality and effectiveness
of the materials we create.
As you will see in this report, everyone
can use our education materials, and
there is something for everyone—from
stories for preschoolers to lesson plans
for use in kindergarten through college
to online resources for parents, seniors
and, of course, teachers at all levels. All
are easily accessible via www.stlouisfed.
org/education. And all are free.
We think our efforts are paying off.
In 2016, we reached nearly 500,000
students across the 50 states through
teachers who attended our training
programs. Also, for the first time, we
crossed the 1-million threshold in online
enrollments in our courses and videos.

Given that there are about 50 million students in
public schools alone in this country, we know there
is a wider audience to reach.3
Our resources and efforts in advancing financial
literacy go beyond the classroom, though. The
economics expertise at the St. Louis Fed provides
us with a unique opportunity and competitive
advantage to lead in the field of financial literacy.
For example, at our St. Louis headquarters, visitors
can tour our interactive Inside the Economy®
Museum to learn about the economy and their role
in it—illustrating to the public how the choices one
person makes can affect the macroeconomy. In
addition, our Bank’s Center for Household Financial
StabilityTM conducts and shares research on household balance sheets, often focusing on such critical
basics as mortgage debt, student loan debt and
wealth discrepancies among different age groups,
races and people with different levels of education.

Continuing the St. Louis
Fed Tradition
All of these efforts are a continuation of the
St. Louis Fed’s pioneering tradition, established
decades ago. In the 1960s and 1970s, the St. Louis
Fed became known as the “maverick” among the
12 Federal Reserve banks around the country for its
forethought on the link between inflation and monetary policy—before this idea became mainstream
in the economics profession or within the Federal
Reserve System itself. Likewise, the St. Louis Fed
became a leader in amassing and presenting economic data in an accessible and objective way for

E C O N O M I C
L I T E R A C Y

anyone to use (again, free of charge).

• a top-notch Economic Education department
that advances financial literacy for life, which is
the main focus of this annual report.
Financial literacy is of utmost importance today.
We know that educating the public about economic concepts can help make our communities
financially stronger. Our leadership in advancing
financial literacy and economic education furthers
our public mission to strengthen the economy for
the benefit of all.

James Bullard
President and CEO

3. National Center for Education Statistics.
Digest of Education Statistics: 2015,
Table 203.10, December 2016. See
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/
d15/tables/dt15_203.10.asp?referrer=
report.

• powerful, public resources, such as the Federal
Reserve Economic Data (FRED®) online database, the GeoFRED® data-mapping tool and the
FRASER® digital archive of the Federal Reserve,
and

2. For example, see Bernanke, Ben S.
“Financial Education,” remarks at the
Conversation with the Chairman: A
Teacher Town Hall Meeting, Federal
Reserve Board, Washington, D.C., on
Aug. 7, 2012; and the statement by
Chairman Bernanke on financial literacy
on April 20, 2011. They can be found at
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/
speech/bernanke20120807a.htm and
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/
testimony/bernanke20110420a.htm,
respectively.

• a Supervision department that is a national
leader in training examiners and in communicating key supervisory and regulatory information
across the banking industry,

1. FINRA Investor Education Foundation.
“Financial Capability in the United States
2016,” July 2016. More than 27,000
American adults (age 18 or older) took
the survey. The summary of findings and
the full report can be found at http://
www.usfinancialcapability.org/results.
php?region=US.

L I F E

• a top-tier Research department providing
thought leadership on monetary policy,

ENDNOTES

F O R

This innovative mindset shines through today in
many areas of our Bank. To name just a few:

8
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R E P O R T
A N N U A L

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Assistant Vice President Mary Suiter (above) has been responsible for economic
education at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis since 2006. Earlier, she directed the
Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Education at the University of MissouriSt. Louis. She has taught economics and personal finance to teachers throughout
the U.S. and in 14 other countries. She has written numerous articles, lessons, book
chapters and curricula on economics and personal finance for K-12 classrooms.

E C O N O M I C
L I T E R A C Y

ON A MISSION
TO EDUCATE
ONE AND ALL

F O R
L I F E
|
9

By Mary Suiter, Economic Education Officer

hen I tell peo- “Really, economic
benefit and often society as a
ple about my
whole benefits.1 Let’s look at
education is a central
job as head
some of these decisions:
piece
of
civic
eduof the eco• Students who choose
nomic education department
cation; educated,
to attend a trade school or
at the St. Louis Fed, I often
informed citizens
decide to get a two-year or
get this response: “I hated
need to have a better four-year degree recognize
economics. All those graphs
that they give up the goods,
and all the math.” My response grasp of the issues,
services or saving they could
is usually something like
which always have
have had with the money
this: “At its core, economics
they spend for school. They
an economic base
is about the decisions people
also give up the opportunity
to them.”
make when faced with limited
to earn income while attendRodney Gerdes | social studies
resources. All of us are faced
ing classes and studying.
with limited resources at a per- teacher and department chair at
However, they likely recogOakville High School, St. Louis
sonal level, but the businesses
nize the future consequences
we run or for whom we work,
of this choice—better access
as well as those who govern us, face
to employment and higher income over
limited resources, too. Making informed choices
their lifetimes than would be available
and recognizing that there are costs and consewith only a high school diploma. Sociquences to the choices we make are key elements
ety benefits because these students are
of economic literacy.”
prepared for jobs, are more productive,
When we make informed economic decisions, we

earn higher incomes and, as a result, are

Endnotes and references for all of these articles are on pp. 49-52.

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R E P O R T
A N N U A L

Listen to Mary Suiter give an
overview of our “econ ed”
offerings. Then, watch as she
and key partners discuss
economic and personal
finance literacy. Go to the
online version of this article at
www.stlouisfed.org/
annual-report/2016.

able to spend and save more over their
lifetimes than those who don’t pursue
postsecondary education.
• Local governments are often asked by
developers for tax breaks as a condition for building housing, retail shops
or other businesses. The governments
must decide if the promise of more
tax revenue later offsets the forgone
goods and services (roads, schools,
etc.) that could be provided with that
funding now. The best decision will
provide the most benefits to the community relative to the costs.
• Likewise, business owners make decisions on a daily basis. The automaker
weighs the pros and cons of building
a new plant vs. retrofitting an old one.
A retailer must decide if a bricks-andmortar store can still make money in
this online world. A baker wonders
if she should focus on bread for the
masses or personalized cupcakes for
the few. The choices these business
owners make affect the number of
workers they employ and the amount
of tax they pay—and all of this affects
society as a whole.
Making informed decisions reminds
us that there is no such thing as a free
lunch. Yes, it’s a cliché, but people often
lose sight of the fact that choosing one
option involves giving up another.

In spite of the importance of economic literacy,
few of us can say we make the grade. Perhaps
that’s because the teaching of economics and
personal finance isn’t a priority in most schools.2
Among the many who think more needs to be
done in the schools is Vicki Fuhrhop, a member
of one of our educator advisory boards: “We’re
educating the consumers of the future, the
citizens who will be out there voting and having
an impact on our nation and the economy; they
need to be prepared.”
Only 20 states require high school students to
take an economics course. (Even fewer states—17
—require a course in personal finance.) Students
may have an opportunity to take an economics
course in college, but in 2014 only 65.2 percent of
U.S. high school students chose to attend college.3
And, only 3 percent of U.S. colleges and universities require students to take a basic economics
course, according to a report from the American
Council of Trustees and Alumni.4
As a result, many people don’t understand basic
economics or aren’t literate in financial concepts
needed in the world today.

A Longtime Mission
For decades, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
has provided economic education. In the beginning, this involved face-to-face training with
teachers and a twice-a-year newsletter for them.
Our efforts escalated when James Bullard became
president and CEO of the St. Louis Fed in 2008.
At the start of his tenure, he stated, “Many people

“

any people think economics is too
complicated. But everyone lives with

every day. … People need to understand how
the system works.”

• a public website at www.stlouisfed.org/education
where anyone—young kids, students applying to
college and their parents, grandparents, business
leaders, struggling families—can access these
resources and use them; and
• a teacher portal at www.econlowdown.org
because teachers are the main audience we
target. Teachers, along with Scout leaders,
community group leaders, home schooling
families and others, can go to the portal to
register, create classrooms, add students to
those classrooms, and assign videos, audio casts
and online courses for students to complete.
Since the first resources were added to the portal, we have had more than 3.4 million enrollments

In addition to our online resources,
we provide professional development
for educators. Last year, we made faceto-face presentations to more than
6,000 educators. (“The conferences
are fantastic,” says Rodney Gerdes, one
of our frequent attendees.) And, these
educators have gone on to teach
students year after year—multiplying our
reach across the St. Louis Fed’s District
and the country.
continued on Page 14

1 1

We have two primary online tools:

Among our many other partners is
Economics Arkansas, which trains teachers to integrate economics and personal
finance into their classes. “You’re the
Cadillac of professional development
organizations that we can partner with,”
says Sue Owen, the executive director.
“The quality, the content, the professionalism, it is absolutely the best.”

Since that time, we have created more than
400 classroom resources, including videos, online
courses, lessons, whiteboard activities, PowerPoint
decks, websites, webinars, publications, infographics, glossaries, flashcards—plenty for everyone to
teach themselves and to teach others about basic
economics and personal finance.

L I F E

Bullard had a vision for economic education at
the St. Louis Fed. He asked us to provide easily
accessible resources online to help people understand their economic world. He challenged us with
this task in 2009.

in the online resources from all 50
states, as well as from England, Spain
and Canada. In the past three years, the
Federal Reserve banks of Atlanta, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Kansas City have
joined us in making resources available
through the teacher portal. We also
have resources available to help people
learn to avoid fraud from the FINRA
Foundation for Investor Education and
to learn about capital markets from the
SIFMA Foundation.

F O R

think economics is too complicated. But everyone
lives with the consequences of supply and demand
every day. We live in a market system, and people
need to understand how the system works.”5

L I T E R A C Y

St. Louis Fed President and CEO James Bullard

E C O N O M I C

the consequences of supply and demand

BY THE
NUMBERS
1.1

million
student
enrollments in online
courses and videos.

107

6,483

educators reached
through our programs.

videos
with Q&A.

486,225

A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

1 2

ur resources for
learning about
economics and personal
finance include something
for just about everyone—
videos, podcasts, lesson
plans, newsletters, online
courses, infographics,
in-person training and
even old-fashioned flashcards. These numbers
scratch the surface on
what was available and
who was using what
in 2016.

students who
were reached by
educators who
attended our
programs.

Beware: Debt can drown you.
Know the facts about the financial services you use.

aid
Preprds
Ca

Buy Here,
Pay Here

442,468

Check-Cashing

Stores

3.5%

SOURCE: CardHub

Cons: Annual interest rates in the
hundreds of percents. Fees at least
as much as the loan amount for 96
percent of users. Miss a payment,
and your car will be repossessed or
your pawned item sold.

50 states

VIDEO

Cons: A used car financed with a “buy here, pay here”
loan could ultimately cost you a third more than a
traditional car loan. Miss a payment, and your car will
be repossessed—at least 25 percent are. With rentto-own purchases, you often pay two to three times
the retail price of the item. (That’s why 75 percent of
customers return an item within four months, never
reaching the “owning” stage.)

p to
Cons: High fees—u
Loans
$50 for one check.
can have triple-digit
interest rates.

SOURCES: Association of Progressive Rental Organizations; Center for Responsible Lending.

25%

of all cars purchased at
“buy here, pay here”
businesses are repossessed.

For more info, go to:
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at www.consumerfinance.gov.
The National Foundation for Credit Counseling at www.nfcc.org.
Bank On, Save Up at http://getbankednow.org.
To watch the videos, go to www.stlouisfed.org/debt-can-drown-you.
To see other free resources from the St. Louis Fed,
go to www.stlouisfed.org/education_resources.

1,732

EE1406 08/15

students
who toured
our museum
on school
field trips.

A L L R E S O U R C E S AVA I L A B L E AT S T L O U I S F E D . O R G / E D U C AT I O N

1 3

Refu
had students
to
s and Checks
Loanenrolled
use our online resources.

of the
majority-minority, all-girls
and/or urban high schools in the Eighth
District to provide economic education
content and resources.

Card Report.

Inhouse Financing
(Including Rent-to-Own)

SOURCE: Center for Responsible Lending.

nd Anticipation

2013 Prepaid

L I F E

percent
86240

Cons: Up to 10
different kinds
of fees on the
average card.
Most do not offer
free check-load
online bill pay,
ing or other basic
people need.
features many

VIDEO

F O R

The Bank worked with

Prepaid Cards
Pros: An altern
ative for those
who can’t get
a regular credit
or
debit card or
who don’t want
to
deal with check
s or cash.

Pros: Open when banks
aren’t—and where banks
aren’t. Short-term loans.
Fast. Little documentation needed.

Pros: “Unbanked”
taxpayers can get a
temporary bank
account for direct
deposit of an IRS tax
for
refund—no waiting
a check in the mail.
With loans, you can
get money now, then
repay when your tax
refund comes in.

million
pageviews
of websites.

Cons: Usually, no short-term loans
for a few hundred dollars. Locations and hours aren’t convenient
for some. Those with a bad track
record may not get an account.

FEE

Payday Lending, Pawnshops,
Title Lending

All

downloads
of resources.

Pros: Usually, free check-cashing for account-holders,
free debit cards, free online banking, free ATM use
24/7. The lowest interest rates on loans.

to
Cons: Fees of up
a
3.5 percent to cash
eck!
more
to cash a paych
paycheck—that’s
than $11 on a $318
paid
a year in fees—
check. If you get
, that’s about $300
every two weeks
some.
Reserve Board.
for
Federal
eck
SOURCE:
or a whole paych

13.7

Banks and Credit Unions

in your
Pros: Likely one
Open on
neighborhood.
nds.
nights and weeke

L I T E R A C Y

lessons for
classroom
and other
use.

online
learning
modules.

Rent
To Own

E C O N O M I C

167

Car Lo

Payday
Loan

required or tested in most schools

and school districts, we provide
resources that can be used to integrate
economics in other disciplines.

A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

1 4

nowing that economics is not

continued from Page 11

Of course, we provide resources for
economics and personal finance classes.
But, knowing that economics is not
required or tested in most schools and
school districts, we provide resources
that can be used to integrate economics in other disciplines.
For example, our resources for young
children emphasize the basics in economics and personal finance while
enhancing language arts and mathematics skills. If teachers are reading the
book Alexander Who Used to Be Rich
Last Sunday,6 they can use our lesson
to talk about spending, saving, choices
and opportunity cost. They can also
reinforce math content, such as counting by 2’s and creating bar charts. As
another example, middle school mathematics teachers might incorporate our
lessons about compound interest and
credit into an algebra class.
It’s not uncommon to see our resources
used in high school government or history classes, too. One of our first initiatives was to create six lessons about the
Great Depression.7 These lessons can be
used alone but are often used in coordination with government lessons on
monetary and fiscal policy or with history
classes studying the New Deal.

Since that first multidiscipline curriculum was
created, we’ve answered the call for more lessons
integrating economics in history, geography and
government classes and incorporating data, maps
and primary source documents.
The resources we create for classrooms are
vetted by economists and reviewed by classroom
teachers. We have educator advisory boards
across our District, with more than 100 members in
total. These teachers provide feedback and assist
in developing content that works in classrooms.

What about the Results?
We found that on average in 2016 the post-test
scores of students enrolled in our online courses
were 23 percent higher than their pre-test scores.
In 2009, outside evaluators reviewed our GDP and
Pizza course and found a 14 percent increase in student post-test scores, which was statistically significant.8 A 2015 evaluation of our Soar to Savings online
course showed positive and statistically significant
gains in learning from pre-test to post-test. More
specifically, the study found a 56.5 percent increase
in scores from pre-test to post-test.9
We also partnered with an urban community
college in our District to develop and implement a
financial literacy curriculum unit for its new-student
course. The curriculum was taught in randomly
selected sections.10 We evaluated the effectiveness
of the unit based on student pre-test and post-test
scores. On average, students who were taught the
financial literacy curriculum unit scored about

3.4 Million Student Enrollments in Our
Online Courses and Videos—and Counting!
WA
MT
ID
WY
NV

IA
IL

WVA
KY

CT
NJ
DE
MD

SC
Enrollments
Up to 100,000
100,001 to 200,000

200,001 to 300,000
300,001 to 400,000

HI
Our online “push” started in 2010. In 2016, enrollments topped 1 million for the first time in a calendar year,
reaching nearly 1.2 million students by the end of the year.

7 percentage points higher than the students
who were not taught the curriculum.
On the following pages, you will read more about
the need for education about economics and personal finance, as well as about the results it yields for
many different people. Specifically, the articles cover:
• the reasons we focus on teaching teachers,
• the importance of teaching economics and
personal finance to children when they are
young—as young as preschoolers,
• our emphasis on decision-making—how good
economic decisions benefit the stability of the
individuals and families making those decisions
and the stability of the economy as a whole, and
• the vital need to invest in human capital.
Along the way, we will show you samples of our
resources, as well as connect you to short videos,

podcasts and other audio clips featuring
people who use those resources—teachers,
students, parents and others.
Mary Suiter has received the Bessie B. Moore
Service Award from the National Association
of Economic Educators and the Alumni Award
of Excellence from the University of Delaware
Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics Alumni Association.

1 5

MA
RI

L I F E

SD
NE

F O R

NH ME

L I T E R A C Y

E C O N O M I C

2010–2016

1 6
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R E P O R T
A N N U A L

TEACH ONE,
REACH
MANY
By Erin Yetter, Senior Economic Education Specialist

lthough the nine “As we prepare teachresources to visit the same
members of
classroom repeatedly, teachers to enter the world of
the economic
ing new students each time.
teaching,
it’s
important
education team
Instead, with our “teach one,
at the St. Louis Fed have a
that they understand
reach many” model, teachers
combined 100-plus years
how economics relates
receive high-quality resources
of experience in the field
to all parts of their lives and training, both online and
of economic education, we
in person. These new skills and
and how to incorporate
could barely make a dent
tools stay with the teachers to
by ourselves in teaching
economics into all
be used year after year, with
economic and personal
wave after wave of students.
curricula areas.”
finance literacy to all those
Betty Porter Walls | assistant professor
On average, a teacher who
who need it. That’s why we
in the College of Education at Harrisattends our programs reaches
Stowe State University in St. Louis.
focus our efforts primarily
75 students in a year.1 If the
on teaching the teachers,
teacher continues to teach for 10 years, that’s 750
from those in pre-K to those in the
students. How does this multiplier effect add up?
college classroom.
In 2016, we reached nearly 6,500 teachers, who in
Some may think that the best path
turn taught nearly a half-million students that year.
to economic literacy is to work directly
with students. But let’s look at the math
How We Help
behind that. A new wave of students
What do teachers need from us and get from us?
enters school and graduates every year.
In general, most teachers, even high school
Direct contact and intervention with
social studies teachers, have little to no economics
students would require using scarce

E C O N O M I C
L I T E R A C Y
F O R
L I F E
|
1 7

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erin Yetter joined the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in 2012.
Earlier, she taught economics at the University of South Florida,
the University of Delaware and Hillsborough Community College,
in Tampa, Fla. She has written numerous lessons and published
research articles on economic and personal finance education.

Watch as teachers from one of our
1 8

St. Louis Fed’s economic education
department. Go to the online
version of this article at www.stlouis
fed.org/annual-report/2016.

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

their favorite resources from the

educator advisory boards talk about

A N N U A L

background.2 Generally, they aren’t required to
take any economics courses. There is an adage
in education that you can’t teach what you
don’t know.

n our free professional
development programs

for educators, we teach
economics and personal
finance content, and we
demonstrate methods …
to teach economics and
personal finance in the
classroom successfully.

In our free professional development programs
for educators, we teach economics and personal
finance content, and we demonstrate methods
educators can use to teach economics and personal finance in the classroom successfully. We
also provide, through our teacher portal, online
professional development for educators. These
programs, too, focus on content and pedagogy.
Focusing on both the “what” (content) and
“how” (pedagogy) is equally important. Research
abounds showing the positive relationship
between teacher content knowledge in economics
and student achievement in economics.3 For example, one group of researchers found that students
whose teachers participate in economic education
professional development programs and who use
high-quality materials perform better on tests of
economic knowledge—and the more professional
development the teacher has, the better the students perform.4 Another study showed that training teachers in the use of a high-quality curriculum
resulted in significant improvement in the average
personal finance knowledge of students across a
broad spectrum of personal finance content.5
A team of evaluators who reviewed the St. Louis
Fed’s economic education programs found that
teachers who attended professional development
programs learned the content and used the

Watch as one high school teacher
tells how he turned his students on
Economic Data), the St. Louis Fed’s
signature economic database. Go
to the online version of this article
at www.stlouisfed.org/annual-

As for the resources themselves, Fuhrhop said
she appreciated the variety of content and modes
of accessing them (“I really like the Econ Ed Mobile
app”), as well as the fact that the resources are
always being updated—and are free.
Another board member is Patrice Bain. “Being
a middle school teacher, if I should Google
‘economics,’ chances are there’s not going to be
too much for middle school. And, so, to have a
site [www.stlouisfed.org/education] where you
can just put in ‘middle school’ and all of these

• The Econlowdown Teacher Portal
at www.econlowdown.org, used by
thousands of teachers around the
country to enhance instruction by
providing online courses, videos and
podcasts for their students.
• In-person and over-the-web
professional development so that
teachers can learn about economic
and personal finance content themselves. In most instances, teachers
qualify for continuing education
credits.
• Print lessons, curricula, readings,
PowerPoints, and SMART and
Promethean board materials for
pre-K through college classrooms
that can be downloaded at
www.stlouisfed.org/education.

1 9

Vicki Fuhrhop, a high school business teacher on
one of our educator advisory boards, framed her
answer around the needs of students. “We don’t
want them to learn by trial and error. That’s too
grave of an impact on them. We need to educate
them so they don’t make mistakes—so they make
really good decisions.”

A few resources for teachers:

And what do the teachers themselves think
about the St. Louis Fed’s efforts to get them to
weave economics and personal finance into
their classes?

Bain added, “Something else that I
think is so vital to what’s being offered
is that many of them are researchbased. They just align with the latest
research and how people learn.”

L I F E

What Teachers Say

wonderful resources pop up, I’m saving
a lot of time.”

F O R

curriculum materials received.6 And another group
of researchers found that “a rigorous state mandate for financial education, if carefully implemented, can improve the credit scores and lower
the probability of delinquency for young adults.”7
These researchers identified professional development in personal finance for educators as part of
what makes a rigorous mandate.

L I T E R A C Y

report/2016.

E C O N O M I C

to using FRED® (Federal Reserve

he St. Louis Fed
has a myriad of free

learn how to incorporate
economics and personal
finance into classes on
just about any subject.
Many of these are online—
courses, lesson plans, videos, podcasts, infographics, whiteboard activities,

TOOLS
FOR
TEACHERS

webinars and much more.
In addition, there are
in-person workshops and
conferences. Materials

to college.

Teacher
conferences offer
professional
development credit.

PAGE ONE E

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A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

2 0

resources to help teachers

16,000

14,000

12,000

10,000

8,000

fred.stlo

An award-winning
curriculum—plus
videos, photos
and even a crossword puzzle.

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Produced by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

March 20

A L L R E S O U R C E S AVA I L A B L E AT S T L O U I S F E D . O R G / E D U C AT I O N

E C O N O M I C

Teachers can hear from many
economists—including Fed Chair
Janet Yellen.

L I T E R A C Y
F O R
2 1

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summarizes timely
economic issues.

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omic Educ

L I F E

The Instructor Management Panel:
the bridge between our resources
and your classroom.

Workshops and
conferences
are held
of St. Louis
serve Bank
Federal Re throughout the year.

The Economic
Lowdown videos:
Watch and learn.

Our Recent Awards
Award

A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

2 2

Year
2017

Excellence in Financial Literacy Education (EIFLE)
Award for Children’s Education Program

2016

National Association of Economic Educators (NAEE)
Gold Curriculum Award of Excellence

2015
2014

Abbejean Kehler Technology Award
EIFLE Award for Econ Lowdown and the Inside the Economy® Museum
PR Daily’s Corporate Social Responsibility Award

Economics and Personal Finance Classes Aren’t Universally Required
A Look at the U.S. and States in the St. Louis Fed’s District
U.S.

Ark.

Ill.

Ind.

Ky.

Miss.

Mo.

Tenn.

States that include economics in their K-12
standards (+District of Columbia)

States that require standards to be
implemented (+DC)

States that require a high school course in
economics be offered (+DC)

States that require a high school course be
taken (+DC)

States with standardized testing of
economics (+DC)

States that include personal finance in their
K-12 standards (+DC)

States that require personal finance
standards be implemented (+DC)

States that require a high school course in
personal finance be offered (+DC)

States that require a high school personal
finance course be taken (+DC)

States with standardized testing of personal finance (+DC)

SOURCE: Council for Economic Education, Survey of the States, 2016.
NOTES: The St. Louis Fed is the home of the Eighth Federal Reserve District. The District covers all of Arkansas and parts of Illinois,
Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. Y=Yes. N=No.

E C O N O M I C
L I T E R A C Y
F O R
L I F E
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2 3

All Hands on Deck to Reach New Teachers

he St. Louis Fed leaves no stone unturned in
trying to inform teachers about the Bank’s free
resources for teaching economics and personal
finance. The econ ed staff knocks on school districts’
doors, attends teacher conventions, hosts informational and training programs, and promotes lessons
and resources through an online newsletter, across
social media platforms and more. In 2016, the staff
launched an additional outreach effort: the Econ Ed
Employee Envoy Program, also known as e4.
The staff asked all St. Louis Fed employees to reach
out to the teachers in their lives—their children’s

teachers, in addition to neighbors, spouses, friends
and others who teach. Employees signed up and
requested a resource bag for the grade level of the
teacher they knew. The bags contain sample lesson
plans, bookmarks, a planner and information on how
to sign up for the Instructor Management Panel.
Bank employees gave the bags to teachers and
encouraged them to sign up online for the monthly
newsletter using a code they found in the bag. When
the teacher signed up, the employee and the teacher
both received a T-shirt with the Econ Lowdown logo.
Since the program began, more than 350 resource
bags have been handed out to teachers in the greater
St. Louis area. Plans are in the works to expand the
program so that even more teachers can have Econ
Lowdown resources at their fingertips.

A N N U A L

R E P O R T

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2 4

E C O N O M I C
L I T E R A C Y

IT’S NEVER
TOO EARLY
TO START

F O R
L I F E
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2 5

By Mary Suiter, Economic Education Officer

“

ust get money from
the machine.”

“Use your credit
card.”
“Write a check for it.”

These aren’t the only
misconceptions kids have
about money. They think
that banks keep in a box the
same money kids deposit—
so if they deposit five $2 bills, they
will get the same five $2 bills when
they withdraw.

“Teach the children so it
will not be necessary to
teach the adults.”
Abraham Lincoln

If you are a parent, grandparent, teacher or
dedicated observer of human behavior, you
have likely heard one or more of these statements from young children in your family.
This sort of thinking is just one example of
the disconnect between what children learn
through observing their economic world and
accurate economic information. Kids see
parents get money from the ATM, swipe their
credit and debit cards at the checkout, or
perhaps still pay by writing a check. Kids see
these transactions and recognize that no coins
or bills are involved. They don’t intuitively know
that there must be money in a bank account
in order for ATM withdrawals to happen or for
checks to be accepted, and they aren’t aware
that there’s a credit card bill that follows those
credit card purchases.1

Often, kids don’t recognize that
there is a link between work and
income. And although most older
children realize that they can’t have
everything they want, they think that
when they are adults they will be able
to do just that.2
These misconceptions limit children’s
ability to think economically and solve
economic problems3 because it is difficult
to build on a foundation that isn’t strong.

Simple Steps We Can Take
All of these misperceptions can
be corrected—but only if someone

Watch as 3- and 4-year-olds
get a taste of personal finance
2 6

education, and see what parents

|
2 0 1 6

have to say about starting so
young. Go to the online version of
this article at www.stlouisfed.org/

A N N U A L

R E P O R T

annual-report/2016.

teaches children about these things.
And the earlier we start doing this,
the better.
Recent research shows that young
children form financial behaviors by as
early as age 7. Their earliest experiences
with economic transactions are likely
encouraged by and experienced with
a significant adult, such as a parent or
grandparent.4 Parents, grandparents
and teachers can assist young children
in developing sound financial habits by
providing:
• opportunities for them to observe
adults engaging in those habits,
• instruction and
• opportunities for the children to
practice the habit.5

elementary grades through middle school and
high school.6 For example, students who
know about earning income and saving are
better-prepared to learn about compound
interest, credit and financial investment.

Don’t Underestimate the Kids
We also know that young children can and do
learn economics. For example, one study found
that students in the early elementary grades can
learn concepts such as goods, services, producers, consumers, division of labor, the connection
between work and income, taxes and the use of
taxes to provide goods in the community.7 Later
studies support these findings and also show that
teacher education in economics and the use of
high-quality materials, such as those found on
the St. Louis Fed’s EconLowdown site, result in
significant gains in student learning.8

So, grandparents might take their
grandchildren on a trip to the bank
and deposit coins and currency in an
account or drop coins in a jar that is
visible to the grandchildren. Then the
grandparents might talk about why
they save with their grandchildren, and
finally they might provide the grandchildren with a piggy bank and encourage
them to begin saving.

Some teachers believe that young children
can start making sense of their economic lives if
they understand basic concepts such as earning
income, spending, saving, setting goals and
making choices. But often these teachers feel illprepared to teach the content.9

If children have developed these
early basics, teachers, parents and
grandparents are in a position to build
on kids’ financial understanding in later

“They’re never too young,” says Walls, who
teaches college students how to become teachers
and also supports the university’s early childhood
education center. “We’re starting very early. We’re

Among the growing cadre of teachers who have
prepared themselves to teach this content and to
do so long before kids enter high school are Betty
Porter Walls and Betty Chism, both from St. Louis.

“

think it’s important to teach them … about
financial decisions so that they can become …
Betty Chism, middle school teacher

Some parents are more prepared and proactive
than others.
continued on Page 30

2 7

Bill Hardekopf, the chief executive officer at
LowCards.com, a provider of credit card information, thinks that financial education is ultimately
the responsibility of parents.10 Unfortunately, not all
parents provide the necessary financial education,
and many do not demonstrate sound financial
habits. The Charles Schwab 2011 Teens & Money
Survey found that parent discussions about money
didn’t necessarily translate into knowledge of
financial tools for children. And a T. Rowe Price
2016 Parents, Kids & Money Survey found that
71 percent of parents were reluctant to discuss
financial matters.

What of the Role of Parents?

L I F E

“They don’t know anything about spending
and saving and budgeting,” she said. “I think it’s
important to teach them … about financial decisions so that they can become financially literate
and critical thinkers and decision-makers.”

F O R

Chism would agree that starting earlier is better.
She had been teaching personal finance at a high
school but recognized that such education was
needed sooner. She moved to a middle school,
where she teaches both personal finance and
computer literacy.

L I T E R A C Y

doing lessons with our preschoolers,” such as a
recent story time with the book Bunny Money.
“Children know what money is. They need to know
how to use it.”

E C O N O M I C

critical thinkers and decision-makers.”

A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

2 8

ot just teachers,
but parents,
grandparents and other
caregivers can easily
access our resources
to help little ones start
to learn about money,
choices and even simple economic concepts.
As the kids get older,
they can access these
books, lessons and
videos themselves.

ECONOMICS
CAN BE
CHILD’S PLAY
Storybooks
related to money,
counting, saving.

Resources for kids
in school and in
extracurricular
activities—like Scouts.

Lesson plans and
activities for in and
out of the classroom.

E C O N O M I C
L I T E R A C Y

For your phone or
tablet: story, activities
and puzzles to teach
7-9-year-olds the basics.

F O R
L I F E
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2 9

Story

!
s
u
n
o
B
a
h
t
i
w
e
m
Ti
Parent Q&As to spark
discussion with children
after reading storybooks
with money-related themes.

No-Frills Money Skills:
short videos on personal
finance topics.

A L L R E S O U R C E S AVA I L A B L E AT S T L O U I S F E D . O R G / E D U C AT I O N

3 0
|
2 0 1 6
R E P O R T
A N N U A L

Watch as St. Louis Fed experts
lead Daisy Scouts in an exercise
about making choices. Parents
also talk about the importance
of personal finance education
for their girls at a young age.
Go to the online version of this
article at www.stlouisfed.org/
annual-report/2016.

continued from Page 27

Angela Statum, whose 3-year-old attends the
preschool where Walls assists, said she and her
husband “talk about financial responsibility all the
time,” but mainly to their 10-year-old. She was
surprised that her younger boy was learning about
money, too, at school.
“I said to my husband, ‘Do you know what they’re
doing in class? They’re doing all this financial stuff,
setting up stores and shops.’ I’m excited.”
Lori Von Holten, another mother of a child in the
class, was equally surprised. But, she added, “It
makes a lot of sense. There’s math you can learn
from counting, there are emotional skills with having the restraint to save, there are issues with social
responsibility … and how money plays into that.”

f we expect students
to understand com-

plex economic ideas
in high school and
college and as adults,
the foundation should
be laid in elementary
and middle school.

Lay a Foundation Early
Schools don’t introduce calculus to high school
seniors as their first mathematics class; rather, they
start with arithmetic in pre-K and kindergarten
and build on that foundation in subsequent grades.
Likewise, if we expect students to understand
complex economic ideas in high school and
college and as adults, the foundation should be
laid in elementary and middle school.
Economics is the business of everyday life.
Children engage in the business of everyday life
as they make choices, including those related to
spending, saving and even borrowing.11 Just as
reading and mathematics education helps children
master skills they will need throughout their lives,

|
3 1

To see these and other resources, go to
www.stlouisfed.org/education.

L I F E

• Parent Q&As are sets of questions with answers
that parents, grandparents or teachers can print
or pull up on their phones. Then, when reading to

• The No-Frills Money Skills video
series covers a variety of personal
finance topics and is appropriate for
those in middle school and above.

F O R

• Kiddynomics: An Economics Curriculum for
Young Learners is designed for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students. The curriculum
includes five lessons that introduce basic concepts, such as scarcity, choice, goods, services,
spending, saving, consumers, producers and
banks. Kids explore these concepts through popular children’s books and participate in activities.

• Piggy Bank Primer e-book introduces
basic economic concepts—saving,
savings plan, spending, costs, benefits, goods, services and opportunity
costs—to 7-9-year-olds.

L I T E R A C Y

A sample of resources for parents and teachers:

their kids, they can use these questions to start conversations with their
children about a variety of topics,
including decision-making, saving,
savings goals and spending.

E C O N O M I C

economic education helps students master knowledge and skills they will need to function every
single day—from making personal decisions about
their studies and their activities and choosing how
to manage their money to making decisions later
as workers, consumers and citizens.

3 2
|
2 0 1 6
R E P O R T
A N N U A L

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Barb Flowers has been with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis since
2009. Earlier, she was the director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and
Economic Education at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. She has taught
economics and personal finance throughout the country and has authored
numerous lessons, curricula and articles on personal finance education.

E C O N O M I C
L I T E R A C Y
F O R
L I F E

FOR BETTER
OR WORSE,
YOUR
DECISIONS
MATTER

|
3 3

By Barb Flowers, Senior Economic Education Manager

n this reference to the
Great Recession, former
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was
talking about budgeting,
wise credit use and saving as key components
not only to the success of
households but also to the
success of our economy.

good ones. Let’s look at some
“The recent crisis
examples:
demonstrated the
critical importance of
Decisions about
financial literacy and
Credit
good financial decisionIndividuals’ decisions
regarding credit were critical
making, both for the
as the country entered the
economic welfare of
Great Recession (2007-09).
households and for the
Creditors were reluctant to
soundness and stability of lend. Households either didn’t
the system as a whole.” 1 want the credit or couldn’t get

Certainly, making
informed decisions regarding spending, credit, saving
it. (Economists debate which
Ben Bernanke / former Federal
and other financial matters
Reserve chairman
scenario was more likely, with
helps the individual housemany thinking that household’s bottom line. But in what ways do the indiholds’ stress over already high credit
vidual’s decisions, when made well, benefit the
balances caused them to voluntarily
overall economy? And, when do the individual’s
reduce their credit exposure.2)
decisions, when done poorly, set all of us back?
Either scenario would have produced
Decision-making is one of the most basic
a considerable drop in consumption
skills taught and promoted by the economic
spending and gross domestic prodeducation team at the Federal Reserve Bank
uct (GDP), which are key indicators to
of St. Louis. Bad financial decisions by individthe health of the overall economy. The
uals usually ripple throughout society—as do
drop that actually did happen was the

economic growth. Savings

are the lifeblood of investment, and
investment is the driver of increases
in our standard of living.

A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

3 4

lack of savings can starve

result of individuals’ decision-making—
whether it was the decision on the part
of households to maintain high credit
balances leading up to the recession,
or the decision on the part of creditors to sharply reduce access to loans,
or whether it was the decision on the
part of lenders to extend large loans to
households or, later, to sharply reduce
access to lending.

Decisions about Saving
As for the issue of saving, decisions
on whether to save, how much, etc., can
have an impact on individuals and on
the economy that can be just as serious
as the impact of decisions regarding
credit. For example, the dire effects of
poor saving habits may lie dormant until
they are too late to correct.
Consider the retirement savings of
baby boomers. Life expectancy for a
baby born in 1930 was 59.7 years. A
baby boomer born 30 years later could
be expected to live for 69.7 years.3 In
a financial sense, whether increased
longevity is good news or bad news
depends on the decisions made on the
way to senior living.
Nearly 50 percent of baby boomers
either do not know how much they
have saved or, even worse, report that
they have saved nothing for retirement.

About one-third have at least $100,000 saved but
less than $250,000.4 Baby boomers who made the
decision to save nothing for retirement can expect
to live nearly 12 years longer than their parents did,
relying only on Social Security. Even those who
have saved may outlive their savings.
So, how do these personal saving decisions
affect the economy in general?
For starters, a lack of savings can starve economic growth. Savings are the lifeblood of investment, and investment is the driver of increases in
our standard of living. If seniors have not saved a
sufficient amount to fund their retirement, they will
have to draw down every dollar of their savings.
On a large scale, this reduces the money available
to businesses to borrow to expand. Beyond this,
these same retirees will use every dollar of their
Social Security for consumption, placing nothing in
savings for others to invest.
And things could get worse. Social Security
projections show annual deficits until 2034, when
the fund will be depleted.5 Whatever the remedy
turns out to be, it will most certainly involve higher
taxes or lesser benefits, having an impact on
consumption and investment in the future.

Building Our Skills
The common theme is that decisions matter, and
that the effects of poor decisions made by some
can spill over to a great number of us. The St. Louis
Fed has multiple resources to help all of us develop
stronger decision-making skills. For example,
beginning at the early elementary level, students

E C O N O M I C
L I T E R A C Y
F O R
L I F E
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3 5

can participate in an online, interactive storybook
called Once upon a Decision. Those who are a bit
older (including adult consumers) can view a
higher-level course, The Art of Decision-making.
Both courses promote informed decisionmaking by having students define their problem,
identify the alternatives that could possibly solve
their problem, choose the criteria that would best
satisfy their goals in solving the problem, evaluate their alternatives according to these criteria
or goals, and then choose the best alternative, all
the while being aware of what they give up when
making their choice.
What they give up, their opportunity cost, is
the most important lesson in personal finance and

economics because it represents the
consequences of a decision.
For the baby boomer who spent all of
his income, the opportunity cost is the
loss of spending power in retirement. For
the individual who used his credit card
with abandon, the opportunity cost is the
many goods he cannot buy in the future.
But for society as a whole, there is
also an opportunity cost to the individual’s behavior. So, the opportunity cost
of ignoring decision-making education
might present itself as a lower standard
of living, not just for those who made
the poor decisions, but for all of us.
continued on Page 38

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3 6

WE CAN HELP YOU
MAKE DECISIONS

Short videos for
young adults.

t’s never too late —
or early—to work on
your decision-making
skills. The St. Louis
Fed has resources for
people of all ages,
and the resources
cover all sorts of
topics, from budgeting to banking, credit
to college, saving to
shopping … and on
and on.

The Amazing
$2,000 Pizza: a
credit card
horror story.

Beware: Debt can drown you.
Know the facts about the financial services you use.
Car Lo

Payday
Loan

Rent
To Own
paid
Pre rds
Ca

Buy Here,
Pay Here

Check-Cashing

Stores
in your
Pros: Likely one
Open on
neighborhood.
ds.
nights and weeken

3.5%

FEE

to
Cons: Fees of up
a
3.5 percent to cash
ck!
more
to cash a payche
paycheck—that’s
than $11 on a $318
paid
a year in fees—
check. If you get
that’s about $300
every two weeks,
Reserve Board.
ck for some.
SOURCE: Federal
or a whole payche

Payday Lending, Pawnshops,
Title Lending
VIDEO

Pros: Open when banks
aren’t—and where banks
aren’t. Short-term loans.
Fast. Little documentation needed.

Banks and Credit Unions
Pros: Usually, free check-cashing for account-holders,
free debit cards, free online banking, free ATM use
24/7. The lowest interest rates on loans.
Cons: Usually, no short-term loans
for a few hundred dollars. Locations and hours aren’t convenient
for some. Those with a bad track
record may not get an account.

Prepaid Card

Pros: An alterna
tive for those
who can’t get
a regular credit
or
debit card or
who don’t want
to
deal with checks
or cash.
Cons: Up to 10
different kinds
of fees on the
average card.
Most
free check-loadin do not offer online bill pay,
g or other basic
people need.
features many
SOURCE: CardHub

Cons: Annual interest rates in the
hundreds of percents. Fees at least
as much as the loan amount for 96
percent of users. Miss a payment,
and your car will be repossessed or
your pawned item sold.
SOURCE: Center for Responsible Lending.

Refund Anticipatio
Loans and Checks
Pros: “Unbanked”
taxpayers can get a
temporary bank
account for direct
deposit of an IRS tax
for
refund—no waiting
a check in the mail.
With loans, you can
get money now, then
repay when your tax
refund comes in.

VIDEO

to
Cons: High fees—up
Loans
$50 for one check.
can have triple-digit
interest rates.

2013 Prepaid

Card Report.

Inhouse Financing
(Including Rent-to-Own)

VIDEO

Pros: Convenient—finance a purchase where you buy
it. May be your only choice if you have bad credit or
no cash. Often, low weekly or monthly payments.
Sometimes, the interest rates are relatively low.
Cons: A used car financed with a “buy here, pay here”
loan could ultimately cost you a third more than a
traditional car loan. Miss a payment, and your car will
be repossessed—at least 25 percent are. With rentto-own purchases, you often pay two to three times
the retail price of the item. (That’s why 75 percent of
customers return an item within four months, never
reaching the “owning” stage.)

25%

SOURCES: Association of Progressive Rental Organizations; Center for Responsible Lending.

of all cars purchased at
“buy here, pay here”
businesses are repossessed.

Be careful about
the financial
services you use.

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“Homework” for
those thinking
about college.

An online course
to make tough
decisions easier.

Multiple resources
on using credit
wisely—and picking
up the pieces when
you don’t.

A L L R E S O U R C E S AVA I L A B L E AT S T L O U I S F E D . O R G / E D U C AT I O N

3 7

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A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

continued from Page 35

While everyone can access our online
resources on decision-making, some
high school seniors have a unique
opportunity every year to learn in
person from St. Louis Fed experts
about the decisions that the students
face currently and will face for the rest
of their lives. These 13 young men and

women are members of our student board of
directors. They meet monthly with St. Louis Fed
leaders to learn about basic economics, personal
finance and the Fed itself.
“We need to understand how decisions we make
now can affect us in our future,” said Amanda
Meyer, a board member.
Credit is a particular interest of the students
since they will be headed to college soon.

A Case for Better Decision-making by One and All
Results from a Survey of 25,000 Americans
U.S.

Arkansas

Illinois

Indiana

Kentucky

Mississippi

Missouri

Tennessee

Spending more
than income

18%

15%

18%

20%

16%

21%

18%

16%

Have unpaid
medical bills

21%

30%

18%

27%

33%

26%

24%

Do not have
emergency funds

50%

47%

52%

56%

Used one or more non-bank
borrowing methods in the
past 5 years

26%

32%

24%

26%

29%

35%

31%

30%

Paid the minimum payment only (credit cards)

32%

40%

30%

34%

31%

32%

35%

32%

Home “underwater”
(negative equity)

10%

12%

11%

Did not compare
credit cards

58%

53%

59%

57%

62%

53%

62%

56%

Results on 5-question
literacy test—3 or fewer
correct

63%

65%

61%

65%

69%

62%

65%

SOURCE: FINRA Investor Education Foundation.
NOTES: These questions were taken from the 2015 National Financial Capability Study, which was funded by the FINRA Investor Education
Foundation. Answers are given for the U.S. overall and for each of the states in the Eighth Federal Reserve District, home of the St. Louis Fed.

Watch as members of our
student board of directors talk
about the preparation they’ve

to make better decisions.
Go to the online version of this
article at www.stlouisfed.org/

• The Budgeting 101 course, which shows you
how to create a budget for a fictional nursing
student—and then for yourself.
• The video Ways to Save, part of our No-Frills
Money Skills series, which shows how to save
for major goals in life, such as cars, college
and retirement.
To see these and more resources, go to
www.stlouisfed.org/education.

Barb Flowers has received the Bessie B. Moore
Service Award from the National Association of
Economic Educators.

e learned
about both

3 9

• The Credit Cred online course, in which you
learn about building strong credit, arranging
credit for major purchases, avoiding common
mistakes and monitoring your own credit score.

“

Some of our other resources on decision-making:

L I F E

Added Egzona Ramushi, another board member, “I think that was one of the most important
things we learned because … we don’t want to be
in debt for the rest of our lives.”

F O R

“We learned about both credit and then
forecasting your college expenses,” said Meyer,
“and how this is a great investment, but how you
also need to be aware of your post-education
salary, expenses and things like that.”

L I T E R A C Y

annual-report/2016.

E C O N O M I C

received from the St. Louis Fed

credit and then
forecasting your
college expenses,
and how this is a
great investment,
but how you also
need to be aware of
your post-education
salary, expenses and
things like that.”
Amanda Meyer,
member of the
St. Louis Fed’s student
board of directors

4 0
|
2 0 1 6
R E P O R T
A N N U A L

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Scott Wolla has been a senior economic education specialist at the
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis since 2010. Prior to the St. Louis
Fed, Scott taught history and economics in Minnesota for 14 years. He
has taught economics and personal finance throughout the country.
He is the principal author of the St. Louis Fed’s Page One Economics
publication and has written numerous articles, lessons, book chapters
and curricula on economics and personal finance for K-12 classrooms.

E C O N O M I C
L I T E R A C Y
F O R
L I F E

INVEST IN
HUMAN
CAPITAL TO
BUILD A BETTER
FUTURE

|
4 1

By Scott Wolla, Senior Economic Education Specialist

he knowledge and
skills that people
obtain through
education and
experience are referred
to as “human capital” by
economists. People invest
in human capital for
similar reasons that businesses invest in physical
capital and individuals invest
in financial assets—they hope
to earn income.

“Whenever I am asked
what policies and
initiatives could do the
most to spur economic
growth and raise living
standards, improving
education is at the top
of my list.”1

mentioned above are 1.5 percent for those with a professional degree, 2.8 percent for
those with a bachelor’s degree
and 5.4 percent for those with
a high school diploma.2

There is also a relationship between education and
wealth accumulation. Better-educated people not only
Janet Yellen / chair of the Federal Reserve
earn more dollars but are
more efficient in translating income into
wealth (assets minus liabilities).3 There
are many factors that explain differences
The relationship between education and income
in wealth, but part of the story lies with
is well-established: On average, those with more
the way well-educated families handle
education tend to earn more income. In 2015, the
their money: They are more likely to
median weekly earnings of a person (age 25 and
have liquid assets to sustain a financial
over) with a professional degree were $1,730, while
rough patch, they are more likely to have
those for someone with a bachelor’s degree were
a diversified financial portfolio and they
$1,137 and those for someone with a high school
are more likely to keep debt low relative
diploma were $678. The differences are dramatic.
to assets.
The benefits of education don’t end with higher
So, the quip stands—education pays.
income. The 2015 unemployment rates of the groups

4 2
A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

Family Financial Outcomes Based on Education
Percentage of
families

Median income
(2013)

Median
wealth
(2013)

Wealth-to-income ratio**

Millionaires
(family wealth)

No high school diploma

12%

$22,320

$37,766

1.43

1 in 110

High school diploma

50%

$41,190

$95,072

2.15

1 in 18

Two- or four-year degree

25%

$76,293

$273,488

3.45

1 in 4.6

Advanced degree

13%

$116,265

$689,100

5.58

1 in 2.6

Education*

SOURCE: Boshara, Ray; Emmons, William R.; and Noeth, Bryan. “The Demographics of Wealth: How Age, Education and Race Separate Thrivers
from Strugglers in Today’s Economy.” Essay No. 2: Education and Wealth, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, May 2015, pp. 4, 5, 9, and 13;
https://www.stlouisfed.org/~/media/Files/PDFs/HFS/essays/HFS-Essay-2-2015-Education-and-Wealth.pdf.
NOTES: *Based on the education level of a family headed by someone 40 years of age or older. **This ratio shows how much wealth each group
has per dollar of income. For example, the ratio for families without a high school degree was 1.43, which means that, on average, for every $1 of
income there was $1.43 of wealth. The ratio is a measure of how efficient people are at turning income into wealth.

Earnings and Unemployment Rates by Educational Attainment, 2015
Median usual weekly earnings
$1,623

Doctoral degree

$1,730

Professional degree
$1,341

Master’s degree

$1,137

Bachelor’s degree
$798

Associate degree

$738

Some college, no degree
High school diploma
Less than a high
school diploma

Unemployment rate

$678

1.7%
1.5%
2.4%
2.8%
3.8%
5.0%
5.4%

$493

8.0%
All workers $860

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.
NOTES: Data are for persons age 25 and over. Earnings are for full-time wage and salary workers.

All workers 4.3%

E C O N O M I C

Economics and Civic Literacy

F O R

Education and Productivity
Human capital is also a key contributor to productivity—workers with more education and skills tend to
produce more output. Recently, the rate of productivity growth has slowed—from 2.5 percent during
the years 1995 to 2010 to 0.4 percent from 2011
to 2015.6 This has economists concerned because
productivity is a key driver of economic growth,
real wages and living standards.
Recent research suggests that rising human
capital explains about 20 percent of the growth in
U.S. productivity from 1950 to 2007. The researchers estimated that educational attainment has
been growing at about one year per decade, which
has contributed about 0.6 percentage points
to productivity growth per year.7 However, they
warned that the growth in educational attainment

Listen to a university
librarian talk about his
use of our resources
on campus to help
students and staff.
Go to the online version of
this article at www.stlouis
fed.org/annual-report/2016.

4 3

Further, living in a representative democracy
grants citizens the ability to influence policy
through their interactions with policymakers.
Former Federal Reserve Gov. Frederic Mishkin
suggested that as policymakers listen to their
constituents, a “better-informed citizenry makes
for better economic policymaking.”5

Listen to a Boy Scout dad
talk about his son’s use of
St. Louis Fed resources to
earn a personal management merit badge.

L I F E

However, an even rudimentary understanding of
this basic economic framework appears to be
missing in the United States.4 This has implications
for larger society. Understanding the issues being
discussed in the public square today requires working knowledge of the trade deficit, budget deficit,
monetary policy, banking regulation, financial
markets and tax law, to name a few of the key topics.

L I T E R A C Y

The benefits of education extend beyond the
income and wealth of individuals. Economic
knowledge is part of basic civic literacy. Being a
thinking, voting and productive member of society
requires an economic understanding of the world
in which we live.

Have Some Fun with FRED
while Building Your Human Capital

he Federal Reserve Bank of
St. Louis recently released
FREDcastTM, an interactive
forecasting game that allows
users to forecast four economic variables, track their forecasts’ accuracy on
scoreboards and compete with friends
and other users in leagues. It’s already
a hit with teachers, students and
economics enthusiasts.
To participate, users make predictions
for:
• real gross domestic product (GDP),

FREDcast is powered by FRED, or Federal Reserve
Economic Data, the signature economic database
of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
FRED is a free data aggregate and includes nearly
500,000 economic and social science series. Data
are collected from regional, national and international sources and cover topics with broad appeal
(like the U.S. consumer price index) and niche information (like total electricity production in China).
Additional data are being added all the time. See
https://fred.stlouisfed.org.

• employment,
• unemployment and
• the consumer price index (CPI).
Forecasts are then compared with the
actual release numbers and scored
monthly for accuracy. Players can
judge their performance by looking at
their rankings within leagues or for all
FREDcast users.

cast

FORECASTING GAME

There’s no cost to play FREDcast, so set up your
account today by visiting https://research.
stlouisfed.org/useraccount/fredcast.

E C O N O M I C

has started to slow, which means that its contribution to economic growth—and income—will probably diminish as well.

L I T E R A C Y

As such, human-capital development is not
only about individual income and wealth or even
responsible civic behavior; rather, it has implications for the future growth of the economy and
the standard of living of its citizens.

F O R

Shared Goals

4 5

And so the structure gets built from the ground
up. It doesn’t appear overnight. The St. Louis Fed
provides economic literacy support by providing

This necessitates a deliberate strategy to lay the
conceptual foundation for understanding how the
economy works. People must understand the principles of inflation, unemployment and economic
growth to assess whether the Fed is achieving
its mandates. But, to be understood, these concepts require cognitive support. Underneath these
concepts—the “bones” if you will—lie economic
concepts such as scarcity, choice and opportunity
cost. Upon that foundation lie the factors of
production and supply and demand. And then
comparative advantage.

L I F E

How does this relate to the goals of the Federal
Reserve System? The Fed has a congressional
mandate to promote price stability and maximum
sustainable employment. To understand how the
Fed works toward these twin goals, people must
be familiar with basic economic concepts. Former
St. Louis Fed President William Poole said that
while the Federal Reserve Act did not mention “the
Fed’s obligation in educating the nation’s populace in economics, it has been an implicit mission
from the start.”8 And as former Fed Chairman Ben
Bernanke said, “The Federal Reserve’s mission of
conducting monetary policy and maintaining a stable financial system depends on the participation
and support of an educated public.”9

Watch as members of a carpenters’ union talk about building
their human capital by using our
training materials on personal
finance. Go to the online version
of this article at www.stlouisfed.
org/annual-report/2016.

Watch as two of our outside
board members talk about the
4 6

education. Go to the online version of this article at www.stlouisfed.org/annual-report/2016.

A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

need in their communities for
personal finance and economic

high-quality (award-winning) lesson
plans, online modules, publications,
podcasts, videos and professional
development opportunities for people
of all ages. In this way, the St. Louis Fed
provides the means by which people
can increase their own human capital.
Echoing the need for this, Bryan
Jordan, a member of the St. Louis
Fed’s board of directors, noted, “It
doesn’t matter whether you are young
or whether you are old. The ability to
connect the concepts of sound financial
management with being able to participate in the economic vibrancy of communities, whether it be buying a house,
getting a credit card or getting a job, are
all important.”
Added Karama Neal, a member of the
Little Rock Branch’s board of directors,
“There is such a need for people to
understand how economics works, both
personally and in the larger economy.

“The St. Louis Fed has wonderful economic‑education materials. I’ve used them myself.”
A few of our resources to help build human capital
and civic literacy:
• Read Education, Income and Wealth, a short,
easy-to-follow essay in the January 2017 edition
of Page One Economics that discusses the links
between
education and both income and wealth.
• Watch Saving for College, a short video that
follows a high school student as she learns about
investing in human capital, factors to consider
when choosing a college and ways to finance a
higher education.
• Listen to the The Labor Market, an episode in
the Economic Lowdown podcast series, to hear
how a young person looking for that first job can
learn about labor market basics: the role of
education, supply, demand, productivity and
government regulation.
For these and hundreds of other resources, start at
www.stlouisfed.org/education.

|
4 7

The museum, at Broadway and Locust Street,
is a short walk from the Gateway Arch. Hours are
9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Admission is free, and each visitor
receives a bag of shredded currency.

L I F E

School field trips and visits by other groups are
welcome. Educational programs and classroom
space are available.

F O R

Visitors enter through the Bank’s original teller
lobby from the early 1900s, which instantly transforms from historic to modern as a theatrical light
show sets the stage for the museum. Among the
highlights inside is a trading pit, where you and
your friends can compete against one another as
you buy and sell wheat in a frenetic environment.
Watch (a video) as guards open the 45-ton door
to the vault, and see workers inside processing
cash. Have your photo taken next to the Million
Dollar Money Cube.

L I T E R A C Y

f you want to build your human capital in
an easy way, come visit one of the nation’s
leading economy museums: the Inside the
Economy® Museum at the Federal Reserve
Bank of St. Louis. Immerse yourself in nearly
100 fun and interactive displays, games and
videos on topics ranging from inflation to
banking to the global economy.

E C O N O M I C

Visit Our Museum on the Economy:
It’s Educational and Entertaining

For more information, go to www.stlouis fed.
org/EconomyMuseum. Watch the one-minute video there for a mini-tour.

4 8
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R E P O R T
A N N U A L

WHAT’S YOUR
ECONOMIC IQ?

f you’ve bookmarked econlowdown.org
as a favorite or subscribe to our Page
One Economics, chances are you take
your economic education seriously.

Here’s a chance to put your know-how of

economics to the test. Find out how well you
understand opportunity cost, taxes and real
wages—and various other topics that can
affect your economic and financial standing.
Take our six-question quiz here. Then, turn
to page 53 to view the answer key. For each
answer, you’ll find a list of related resources
from the St. Louis Fed to help you learn more.
Search for free resources at www.stlouisfed.
org/education.
Want to test your knowledge further? Take
the complete test online at www.stlouisfed.
org/annual-report/2016.
1. If your annual income rises by 50 percent while prices of the things you buy rise
by 100 percent, then your
a. real income has risen.
b. real income has fallen.
c. money income has fallen.
d. real income is not affected.
2. If the government charges a new tax of
$1 on every pair of blue jeans sold, which
would most likely result?
a. Consumers would pay a higher price
for blue jeans and buy fewer pairs of
blue jeans.
b. Consumers would pay a higher price
for blue jeans, and blue jeans sellers
would make larger profits.
Turn to Page 53 for answers.

c. Consumers would pay a higher price, and blue
jeans sellers would limit the number of blue jeans
consumers could buy.
d. Blue jeans sellers would increase the quantity
sold to make up for the taxes paid to the
government.
3. The opportunity cost of a new public high school is the
a. money cost of hiring teachers for the new school.
b. cost of constructing the new school at a later date.
c. change in the annual tax rate to pay for the new school.
d. other goods and services that must be given up for
the new school.
4. What is meant by the statement that every
economic system faces the problem of scarcity?
a. The additional benefits of goods and services are
greater than their additional costs.
b. There are times when some products can be
purchased only at high prices.
c. There are never enough productive resources to
satisfy all human wants.
d. All economies have recessions during which
scarcities exist.
5. A high school student buys a sweatshirt from a
store. The sweatshirt is on sale at a 20 percent discount
off the regular price. In this exchange,
a. both the student and the store benefit.
b. the student benefits, but the store does not.
c. the store benefits, but the student does not.
d. neither the student nor the store benefits.
6. An economy will typically experience a decline in its
unemployment rate when there is
a. an increase in population.
b. a decrease in consumer incomes.
c. an increase in economic growth.
d. a decrease in business investment.

E C O N O M I C

ON A MISSION TO EDUCATE ONE AND ALL

See Lusardi and Mitchell.

2 See Survey of the States from the Council for
Economic Education.

5 See Bullard.
6 To see the lesson, go to www.stlouisfed.org/education/alexander-who-usedto-be-rich-last-sunday.

TEACH ONE, REACH MANY

4 9

4 See American Council of Trustees and Alumni.

ENDNOTES
1

See Bosshardt and Grimes 2010.

2 See Loibl, as well as Way and Holden.

8 See Bosshardt and Grimes.

3 See Bosshardt and Watts; Becker, Greene and Rosen; Marlin;
Wetzel, and O’Toole, and Millner, 1991; Allgood and Walstad,
1999; Valletta, Hoff, and Lopus, 2013; and Butters, Asarta, and
Thompson, 2013.

9 See Wolla.

4 See Swinton 2010.

10 See Yetter and Suiter.

5 See Asarta et al.

REFERENCES

6 See Bosshardt and Grimes 2011.

American Council of Trustees and Alumni. What Will They Learn? 2014-15. A Survey
of Core Requirements at Our Nation’s Colleges and Universities. See www.goacta.
org/images/download/what_will_they_learn_2014-15_report.pdf.

7 See Urban et al.

Asarta, Carlos; Hill, Andrew; and Meszaros, Bonnie. The Features and Effectiveness
of the Keys to Financial Success Curriculum. International Review of Economics
Education, Vol. 16, pp. 39-50.

Allgood, S.; and Walstad, W.B. The Longitudinal Effects of Economic
Education on Teachers and Their Students. Journal of Economic
Education, 1999, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 99-111.

Bosshardt, W.; and Grimes, P. Assessment Initiative: Final Report. Submitted to the
Federal Reserve banks of Atlanta and St. Louis. 2010.

Asarta, C.; Hill, A.; and Meszaros, B. The Features and Effectiveness of the Keys to Financial Success Curriculum. International
Review of Economics Education, 2014, Vol. 16, pp. 39-50.

7 See the curriculum, lesson plans, website and other resources on the Great
Depression at https://www.stlouisfed.org/education/the-great-depression.

Bullard, James. New President Bullard Bullish on Economics. The Federal Reserve Bank
of St. Louis’ Central Banker, Summer 2008.
Lusardi, Annamaria; and Mitchell, Olivia S. The Economic Importance of Financial
Literacy: Theory and Evidence. Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 52, No. 1,
pp. 5–44.
Meszaros, Bonnie; and Suiter, Mary (1998). The Case for Economics in the Elementary
Classroom. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’ The Region. 1998. Vol. 12,
No. 4, pp. 39-43.
Meszaros, Bonnie; and Suiter, Mary (2005). Teaching about Saving and Investing in
the Elementary and Middle School Grades. Social Education. Vol. 69, No. 2,
pp. 92-95.
Norris, Floyd. Fewer U.S. High School Students Opt for College. The New York Times,
April 25, 2014. Retrieved Nov. 28, 2016. See http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/26/
business/fewer-us-high-school-graduates-opt-for-college.html?_r=0.
Survey of the States. Economic and Personal Finance Education in Our Nation’s
Schools, 2016. Council for Economic Education. See http://councilforeconed.org/
wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/sos-16-final.pdf.

3 See Norris.

Yetter, Erin; and Suiter, M. Financial Literacy in the Community
College Classroom: A Curriculum Intervention Study. Journal of
Economics and Financial Education, forthcoming 2017.

L I F E

F O R

ENDNOTES

Wolla, Scott. Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Online Module
for Increasing Financial Literacy. Social Studies Research and
Practice, forthcoming, 2017

L I T E R A C Y

ENDNOTES AND REFERENCES

REFERENCES

Becker, W.E.; Greene, W.; and Rosen, S. Research on High School
Economic Education. Journal of Economic Education, 1990,
Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 231-45.
Bosshardt, W.; and Watts, M. Instructor Effects and Their Determinants in Precollege Economic Education. Journal of Economic
Education, 1990, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 265-76.
Bosshardt, W.; and Grimes, P. Assessment Initiative: Final Report.
Submitted to the Federal Reserve banks of Atlanta and St. Louis.
2010.
Bosshardt, W.; Grimes, P.; and Suiter, M. Teacher Workshops Chip
Away at Economic Illiteracy. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’
The Regional Economist, January 2011.
Butters, R.; Asarta, C.; and Thompson, E. The Production of
Economic Knowledge in Urban and Rural Areas: The Role of Student, Teacher, and School Characteristics. Journal of Agricultural
and Applied Economics, 2013. Vol. 45, No. 1, pp. 1-15.

continued on next page

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A N N U A L

2 0 1 6
R E P O R T

ENDNOTES AND REFERENCES

Hanushek, E.A. Valuing Teachers: How Much Is a Good Teacher
Worth? Education Next. 2011. Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 40-55
Loibl, C. Survey of Financial Education in Ohio’s Schools:
Assessment of Teachers, Programs, and Legislative Efforts.
Ohio State University P-12 Project. See www.budgetchallenge.
com/Portals/0/Documents/Loibl.PersonalFinanceEducation.
pdf.

4 See Whitebread and Bingham.
5 Ibid.
6 See Butt et al., Grody et al., Hagedorn et al., Harter and Harter, and Sherraden et al.
7 See Larkins and Shaver 1969.
8 See Berti and Monaci, as well as Kourilsky, Laney and Morgan.

Marlin, J.R. State-Mandated Economic Education, Teacher Attitudes, and Student Learning. Journal of Economic Education,
1991, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 5-14.

9 See Way and Holden.

Swinton, J.R.; De Berry, T.; Scafidi, B.; and Woodard, H.C. The
Impact of Financial Education Workshops for Teachers on
Students’ Economics Achievement. Journal of Consumer
Education, 2007, Vol. 24, pp. 63–77.

11 See Meszaros and Suiter 2005.

Swinton, J.R.; De Berry, T.; Scafidi, B.; and Woodard, H.C. Does
In-Service Professional Learning for High School Economics
Teachers Improve Student Achievement? Education Economics,
2010, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 395-405.
Urban, C.; Schmeiser, M.; Collins, J.M.; and Brown, A. State Financial
Education Mandates: It’s All in the Implementation. FINRA
Investor Education Foundation, Insights: Financial Capabilities
January 2015. See https://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/
investoreducationfoundation.pdf.
Valletta, R.B.; Hoff, J.K.; and Lopus, J.S. Lost in Translation?
Teacher Training and Outcomes in High School Economics
Classes. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Working
Paper Series 2012-03. 2013. See http://www.frbsf.org/
economic-research/files/wp12-03bk.pdf.
Way, W.; and Holden, K. Teachers’ Background and Capacity to
Teach Personal Finance. National Endowment for Financial
Education. See www.nefe.org/Portals/0/WhatWeProvide/
PrimaryResearch/PDF/TNTSalon_ExecutiveSummary.pdf.
Weaver, A.A.; Deaton, W.L.; and Reach, S.A. The Effects of
Economics Education Summer Institutes for Teachers on
the Achievement of Their Students. Journal of Educational
Research, 1987, Vol. 80, No. 5, pp. 296-300.
Wetzel, J.N.; O’Toole, D.M.; and Millner, E.L. A Qualitative Response
Model of Student Performance on a Standardized Test. Atlantic
Economic Journal, 1991, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 18-25.

IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY TO START
ENDNOTES
1

See Butt et al., Grody et al., Hagedorn et al., Harter and Harter,
and Sherraden et al.

2 See Meszaros and Suiter, 1998.
3 See Miller and VanFossen

10 See Engel.

REFERENCES
Berti, A.E.; and Monaci, M.G. Third Graders’ Acquisition of Knowledge of Banking:
Restructuring or Accretion? British Journal of Educational Psychology, 1998,
Vol. 68, No. 3, pp. 357-71.
Butt, N.M.: Haessler, S.J.: and Schug, M.C. An Incentives-Based Approach to
Implementing Financial Fitness for Life in the Milwaukee Public Schools.
Journal of Private Enterprise, 2008, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 165-73.
Charles Schwab Corp. Teens and Money Survey. 2011. See http://www.schwabmoneywise.com/public/file/P-4192268/110526-SCHWAB-TEENSMONEY.pdf.
Engel, M. Students Taking Financial Education Courses Have Better Credit. New York
Daily News. Feb. 6, 2015. See http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/studentsfinancial-education-better-credit-stud-article-1.2106166?cid=bitly.
Grody, A.D.; Grody, D.; Kromann, E.; and Sutliff, J. A Financial Literacy and Financial
Services Program for Elementary School Grades—Results of a Pilot Study. See
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1132388 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1132388.
Hagedorn, E.; Schug, M.; and Suiter, M. A Collaborative Approach to Financial
Literacy in the Chicago Public Schools. Journal of Private Enterprise, 2016,
Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 79-90.
Harter, C.L.; and Harter, J.F.R. Assessing the Effectiveness of Financial Fitness for
Life in Eastern Kentucky. Journal of Applied Economics and Policy. 2009,
Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 20-33.
Kourilsky, M. The Kinder-Economy: A Case Study of Kindergarten Pupils’ Acquisition
of Economic Concepts. The Elementary School Journal. 1977, Vol. 77, No. 3,
pp. 182-91.
Laney, J. Experience and Concept Label Type Effects on First Graders’ Learning,
Retention of Economic Concepts. Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 82,
No. 4, pp. 231-36.
Larkins, A.G. Assessing Achievement on a First-Grade Economics Course of Study.
1968. Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU. All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, retrieved Jan. 27, 2017. See http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/2889/.
Larkins, A.G.; and Shaver, J.P. Economics Learning in Grade One: The USU
Assessment Studies. Social Education. 1969. Vol. 33, No. 8, pp. 958-63.

E C O N O M I C

Sherraden, M.S.; Johnson, L.; Guo, B.; and Elliott, W. Financial Capability in Children:
Effects of Participation in a School-Based Financial Education and Savings
Program. Journal of Family & Economic Issues, 2011. Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 385-99.
Suiter, M. Effectiveness of an Interdisciplinary Approach to Teaching Mathematics
and Economics in Middle School Mathematics Classrooms. 2006. Unpublished
dissertation research. University of Missouri-St. Louis.
T. Rowe Price. 8th Annual Parents, Kids, and Money Survey. 2016. Retrieved from
https://corporate.troweprice.com/Money-Confident-Kids/images/emk/
2016pkmresultsdeckfinal-160322181149.pdf.
Way, W.; and Holden, K. Teachers’ Background and Capacity to Teach Personal Finance.
National Endowment for Financial Education. Retrieved from http://www.nefe.org/
what-we-provide/primary-research/grant-studies-teachers-preparedness-andmoney-man.aspx.
Whitebread, D.; and Bingham, S. Habit Formation and Learning in Young Children.
Money Advice Services. 2013. London: Money Advice Services.

FOR BETTER OR WORSE, YOUR DECISIONS MATTER

5 1

Reiser, M.L. Financial Fitness for Life 3-5. 2010. New York: Council for Economic
Education.

National Vital Statistics Report. U.S. Life Tables, 2012. Vol. 65,
No. 8. See “List of Detailed Tables” and Table 19 at https://
www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr65/nvsr65_08.pdf.
Social Security. A Summary of the 2016 Annual Reports. Social
Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees. Status of the Social
Security and Medicare Programs. Social Security Administration. See https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html.

INVEST IN HUMAN CAPITAL
TO BUILD A BETTER FUTURE
ENDNOTES
1. See Yellen.
2 See Employment Projections.
3. See Boshara et al.
4. See Lusardi.
5. See Mishkin.
6. See data in FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) at
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=chrH.
7. See Fernald et al.

ENDNOTES
1. See Bernanke.
2. See Jiang.
3. See National Vital Statistics Report.
4. See Insured Retirement Institute.
5. See Social Security.
REFERENCES
Bernanke, Ben. Statement on financial literacy. Provided for the record of a hearing
held on April 12, 2011, conducted by the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate. See https://
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/testimony/bernanke20110420a.htm.

8 See Poole.
9 See Bernanke.
REFERENCES
Bernanke, Ben. A Message from Chairman Bernanke, a speech
delivered at Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, July 2006. See
https://web.archive.org/web/20090601102705/http:/www.
dallasfed.org/educate/message.html.
Boshara, Ray; Emmons, William R.; and Noeth, Bryan J. The
Demographics of Wealth: How Age, Education and Race
Separate Thrivers from Strugglers in Today’s Economy. Essay
No. 1: Race, Ethnicity and Wealth. 2015. See https://www.
stlouisfed.org/~/media/Files/PDFs/HFS/essays/HFS-Essay-22015-Education-and-Wealth.pdf.

continued on next page

Morgan, J.C. Using Econ and Me to Teach Economics to Children in Primary Grades.
Social Studies. 1991. Vol. 82, No. 5, pp. 195-97.

Jiang, Helu; and Sanchez, Juan. Household Financial Distress and
Household Deleveraging. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’
Economy Synopses. 2016, No. 18. See https://research.stlouisfed.
org/publications/economic-synopses/2016/09/08/householdfinancial-distress-and-household-deleveraging/.

L I F E

Miller, S.L.; and VanFossen, P.J. Recent Research on the Teaching and Learning of
Pre-Collegiate Economics Education. In, L. Levstik and C. Tyson (eds.), Handbook
of Research in Social Studies Education. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 284-306.

F O R

Meszaros, B.; and Suiter, M. Teaching about Saving and Investing in the Elementary
and Middle School Grades. Social Education, 2005. Vol. 69, No. 2, pp. 92-95.

Insured Retirement Institute. Boomer Expectations for Retirement
2015. Fifth Annual Update on the Retirement Preparedness of
the Boomer Generation. April 2015. See http://www.irionline.
org/resources/resources-detail-view/boomer-2015.

L I T E R A C Y

Meszaros, B.; and Suiter, M. The Case for Economics in the Elementary Classroom.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’ The Region. 1998. Vol. 12, No. 4,
pp. 39-43.

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R E P O R T

ENDNOTES AND REFERENCES

Employment Projections. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor
Statistics. See http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm.
Fernald, John G.; and Jones, Charles I. The Future of U.S.
Economic Growth. The American Economic Review, Vol. 104,
No. 5, 2014, pp. 44-49.
Lusardi. A. Household Saving Behavior: The Role of Literacy,
Information and Financial Education Programs. 2008.
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Working
Paper No. 13824.
Mishkin, F. The Importance of Economic Education and Financial
Literacy. Speech before the Federal Reserve Board at the

Our economic education team has a
combined 100-plus years of experience in
the field of education. Seated (left to right)
are: Andria Matzenbacher, senior learning
technology designer; Barb Flowers, senior
economic education manager; Mary Suiter,
assistant vice president and economic
education officer; Eva Johnston, senior
economic education specialist; and Kris
Bertelsen, senior economic education specialist in our Little Rock Branch. Standing (left
to right) are: Mark Bayles, senior economic
education specialist; Scott Wolla, senior
economic education specialist; Erin Yetter,
senior economic education specialist in our
Louisville Branch; Katrina Stierholz, vice
president and head of the Bank’s library; and
Jeannette Bennett, senior economic
education specialist in our Memphis Branch.

Third National Summit on Economic and Financial Literacy, Washington, D.C.
2008. See www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/mishkin20080227a.htm.
Poole, William. President’s Message: The Importance of Economic Education, The
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ The Regional Economist, July 1998. See www.
stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/july-1998/the-importance-ofeconomic-education.
Yellen, Janet L. At the Conversation with the Chair: A Town Hall Meeting, Washington,
D.C., Jan. 12, 2017. See https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/
yellen20170112a.htm.

ANSWER KEY
FOR QUIZ

For each question on page 48, you’ll find an answer and a list of
related resources from the St. Louis Fed on this page. All of our
casts, lesson plans, and more—are available free of charge at
www.stlouisfed.org/education.

percent, then your

Consumers
•

Inflation Online Course for Consumers

•

The Economic Lowdown Podcast Series,
Episode 14: Getting Real about Interest Rates

2. If the government charges a new tax of $1 on
•

Interactive Whiteboard Activity:
Tax Incidence

a. Consumers would pay a higher price for
blue jeans and buy fewer pairs of blue jeans.
3. The opportunity cost of a new public high
school is the
d. other goods and services that must be
given up for the new school.

•

Opportunity Cost Online Course for Consumers

•

Once Upon a Decision Online Course
for Consumers

•

The Economic Lowdown Podcast Series,
Episode 1: Opportunity Cost

4. What is meant by the statement that every

•

Monster Musical Chairs Lesson (Grades K-1)

economic system faces the problem of scarcity?

•

Page One Economics: Choices Are

c. There are never enough productive
resources to satisfy all human wants.
5. A high school student buys a sweatshirt
from a store. The sweatshirt is on sale at a
20 percent discount off the regular price.

Everywhere. Why Can’t We Just Have It All?
•

So Few of Me Lesson (Grades 1-3)

•

Parent Q&A for Sheep in a Shop (Grades K-2)

•

Explore Economics Video Series, Episode 3:
What Makes Something Useful as Money?

In this exchange,

(Grades 3-5)

a. both the student and the store benefit.

6. An economy will typically experience a

•

Unemployment Short Courses Series

•

What Is Unemployment, How Is it
Measured, and Why Does the Fed Care?

decline in its unemployment rate when there is
c. an increase in economic growth.

Lesson (Grades 7-10)
•

The Economic Lowdown Podcast Series,
Episode 5: Unemployment

Ready to test your knowledge further? Take the complete test online at
www.stlouisfed.org/annual-report/2016.

5 3

likely result?

every pair of blue jeans sold, which would most

L I F E

b. real income has fallen.

The Great Inflation Online Course for

F O R

while prices of the things you buy rise by 100

•

L I T E R A C Y

1. If your annual income rises by 50 percent

E C O N O M I C

resources—from online courses to award-winning videos, pod-

5 4
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A N N U A L

R E P O R T

OUR PEOPLE,
OUR WORK

ur mission at the
Federal Reserve Bank of
St. Louis is to promote
stable prices, encour-

age maximum sustainable economic
growth and support financial stability
for constituents in our Eighth District
and across the United States. The
following numbers offer a snapshot of
how the St. Louis Fed—through our
people and our work, and with vision
and purpose—brought this mission to
life over the past year.

All numbers are as of Dec. 31, 2016, unless otherwise noted.

E C O N O M I C
L I T E R A C Y
F O R
L I F E
|
5 5

OUR
PEOPLE
OUR PEOPLE

No. 1 ranking in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s

1,316 staff, the majority at the

Top Workplaces 2016 survey, Large Employer
category.

District’s headquarters in St. Louis,
with staff also located at branches in
Little Rock, Louisville and Memphis.

President James Bullard named No. 58 on
Worth magazine’s Power 100 list of the most
powerful men and women in global finance for
2016. Bullard was the only Reserve bank president
named to the list.
Perfect score of 100 in the Human Rights
Campaign’s Best Places to Work Corporate
Equality Index, for our inclusive policies related
to LGBT employees.

36 college and 8 high school
students served as interns for the Bank.
Launch of a 5th employee-led resource
group: SERVE, for military veterans.
The other four focus on women,
African-Americans, Asians and
the LGBT community.

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R E P O R T
A N N U A L

SAFETY AND
SOUNDNESS
SAFETY AND SOUNDNESS
Supervised 130 state-member banks, plus 494 bank and
savings and loan holding companies.

1.1 billion currency notes inspected and authenticated.
3,500 suspect counterfeit notes removed from circulation.
Shredded and composted
unfit for circulation.

116,260 pounds of cash deemed

Assisted federal agencies in identifying nearly $59 million*
in improper payments—curtailing payment errors, waste,
fraud and abuse—as fiscal agent to the U.S. Treasury and its
Do Not Pay program.

28,613 hours dedicated by internal auditors to reviewing
St. Louis Fed operations.
*Total is for fiscal year 2016.

E C O N O M I C

ECONOMIC
RESEARCH
L I T E R A C Y
F O R
L I F E
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5 7

ECONOMIC RESEARCH
The research productivity of St. Louis Fed’s economic research
division ranked:
• No. 6 among all research departments at central banks worldwide,
• No. 35 among all U.S. research institutions, and
• No. 59 among all research institutions worldwide.
More than 421,000 data series in FRED®, the St. Louis
Federal Reserve’s free online economic database, used by people
in 171 countries.

61,049 pageviews of GeoFRED®, our geographical economic data
tool that allows users to transform data in FRED® to create and share
maps by geographic category and time frame.

2.2 million economic research items from around the world that
anyone can access for free via IDEAS.*
*IDEAS is the world’s largest bibliographic database dedicated to economics.
This service, provided by RePEc (Research Papers in Economics), is hosted by our research division.

5 8
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R E P O R T
A N N U A L

PUBLIC
PUBLIC
OUTREACH
OUTREACH
PUBLIC OUTREACH

16,500 bankers, regulators and other
industry participants joined our call-in and
in-person information sessions providing
information on financial and regulatory
developments.

519 people attended Dialogue with the Fed
events, our evening lecture series on timely
economic issues, in St. Louis and Memphis.
Similar outreach events across the Eighth
District attracted attendees numbering
503 in Little Rock, 1,464 in Louisville
and 687 in Memphis.

10,500 people attended presentations
about the economy and Fed-related
issues requested through our public
speakers bureau.

11,139 people signed up for 44 workshops,
conferences, speeches and other events
sponsored by our community development
department on economic factors affecting
low- and moderate-income communities
in the District.
Staff met with 550 bankers, business and
community leaders to discuss local economic
conditions.

500 people registered for 10 forums in Helena,
Ark., and Greenwood, Miss., as part of the launch
of our Delta Communities initiative, aimed at
strengthening communities in that region.

11,203 visitors toured the Inside the Economy®
Museum in its second year of operation at the
District’s headquarters in St. Louis.

E C O N O M I C

COMMUNICATION
AND SOCIAL
MEDIA

CORPORATE
CITIZENSHIP

L I T E R A C Y
F O R
L I F E
|
5 9

COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL MEDIA

CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP

48 million pageviews of the St. Louis

$226,335 donated by St. Louis Fed

Fed’s website.

employees around the District to local
United Way campaigns.

365,180 pageviews of our On the
Economy blog.

$35,960 raised by employees to

150,249 pageviews of The FRED Blog.

support food banks and feeding programs
for the needy in the St. Louis area.

67,569 followers on Twitter @stlouisfed,
which ranked No. 4 on InvestorPlace’s
Top 10 list of “Who to Follow on Twitter:
A Stock Trader’s Guide.”

7,197 followers on LinkedIn and 7,552
Facebook page Likes.

59,520 subscribers to all of our online and
print publications and newsletters.

More than 7,000 back-to-school
supplies donated by Bank employees to
Operation Food Search.

154 tons of waste that in the past would
have gone to landfills were recycled or
composted.

6 0
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2 0 1 6
R E P O R T
A N N U A L

OUR
LEADERS,
OUR
ADVISERS

he Federal Reserve’s
decentralized structure—
the Board of Governors, the
Federal Open Market

Committee and 12 Reserve banks—
ensures that the economic conditions
of communities and industries across
the country are taken into consideration when deciding monetary policy.
Members of our boards of directors
and our advisory councils represent
the diverse perspectives of Main
Street within the Eighth Federal
Reserve District.

Listed on the following pages are board members from each of the four zones of the Eighth District: St. Louis, Louisville, Ky. (celebrating its
centennial year), Little Rock, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn. Members of our advisory councils are also shown, as are members of the Bank’s
Management Committee, officers of the Bank, and retirees from our boards and our advisory councils. All lists are current as of March 31, 2017.

CHAIR’S MESSAGE

Each time my fellow directors and I interact
with the St. Louis Fed’s leaders, we learn more
about how the Bank’s culture and values drive the
employees to make a positive difference. We see
the results that each employee in St. Louis and the
branch cities of Little Rock, Louisville and Memphis

Kathleen M. Mazzarella
Chair of the Board of Directors
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Mazzarella is chairman, president and CEO
of Graybar Electric Co. Inc
PHOTO COURTESY OF GRAYBAR ELECTRIC CO INC.

6 1

The Bank’s core values not only define how work
gets done every day, but also help to establish
priorities, such as promoting economic education
and financial literacy, the focus of this year’s annual
report. Educating people about the importance of
making wise financial decisions is one way that the
Bank fulfills its mission of building a healthy economy and promoting financial stability. While each
individual may only make a small difference, the
collective impact of our financial decisions has the
power to influence the entire economy.

The St. Louis Fed strives to create a
workplace culture that brings out the
best in each employee. This culture
inspires employees to develop innovative
ideas and solutions, while reinforcing the
shared values that strengthen the entire
team and produce lasting benefits to
our community.

L I F E

As chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis,
I have been impressed by the culture that permeates this entire organization. The Bank’s culture
stems from its deeply held core values of diversity,
inclusion, innovation, integrity, a commitment to the
public interest, a focus on constituents and independence of views. Those who work with and for
the St. Louis Fed already appreciate this positive
workplace culture, so I was thrilled when the Bank
earned external recognition as the No. 1 Top Workplace among large employers in St. Louis for 2016.

F O R

brings to his or her unique role.
Collectively, the Bank’s management
and staff ensure that the economy of
“Main Street” is taken into account in
monetary policy decision-making.

L I T E R A C Y

ulture is vital to the long-term success of
any organization. A strong culture infuses
employees with a sense of purpose that
translates into a passion for serving their
customers and communities.

E C O N O M I C

THE CULTURE OF
A TOP WORKPLACE

6 2
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R E P O R T
A N N U A L

D. Bryan Jordan
Chairman, President
and CEO, First Horizon
National Corp.
Memphis, Tenn.

Chair
Kathleen M. Mazzarella
Chairman, President
and CEO, Graybar
Electric Co. Inc.
St. Louis

Deputy Chair
Suzanne Sitherwood
President and CEO,
Spire Inc.
St. Louis

Patricia L. Clarke
President and CEO,
First National Bank
of Raymond
Raymond, Ill.

Alice K. Houston
CEO, HJI Supply
Chain Solutions
Louisville, Ky.

Daniel J. Ludeman
President and CEO,
Concordance Academy
of Leadership
St. Louis

James M. McKelvey Jr.
General Partner,
Cultivation Capital
St. Louis

John N. Roberts III
President and CEO,
J.B. Hunt Transport
Services Inc.
Lowell, Ark.

Susan S. Stephenson
Co-Chairman
and President,
Independent Bank
Memphis, Tenn.

ST. LOUIS

BOARD OF
DIRECTORS

James Bullard (center), president and CEO of
the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, meets
with guests following a presentation by him.

Robert Martinez
Owner, Rancho La
Esperanza
De Queen, Ark.

Charles G. Morgan Jr.
President and CEO,
Relyance Bank N.A.
Pine Bluff, Ark.

Karama Neal
COO, Southern Bancorp
Community Partners
Little Rock, Ark.

BOARD OF
DIRECTORS

F O R

Keith Glover
President and CEO,
Producers Rice Mill Inc.
Stuttgart, Ark.

L I T E R A C Y

R. Andrew Clyde
President and CEO,
Murphy USA Inc.
El Dorado, Ark.

E C O N O M I C

Chairman
Ray C. Dillon
Former President
and CEO, Deltic
Timber Corp.
El Dorado, Ark.

LITTLE
ROCK

L I F E
|
6 3

Millie A. Ward
President,
Stone Ward
Little Rock, Ark.

Robert Hopkins (left), senior vice president and regional executive of the Little
Rock Branch, talks with University of
Arkansas-Fort Smith Chancellor Paul
Beran following a speech there by
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard.

6 4
|

BOARD OF
DIRECTORS

A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

LOUISVILLE

Mary K. Moseley
Partner Owner,
Al J. Schneider Co.
Louisville, Ky.

Nikki Jackson (left), senior vice
president and regional executive of
the Louisville Branch, at a discussion
that St. Louis Fed President
James Bullard had in Louisville
with area business leaders.

Chair
Susan E. Parsons
CFO, Secretary and
Treasurer, Koch
Enterprises Inc.
Evansville, Ind.

Malcolm Bryant
President, The Malcolm
Bryant Corp.
Owensboro, Ky.

Patrick J. Glotzbach
CEO, The New
Washington State
Bank
Charlestown, Ind.

Ben Reno-Weber
Co-Founder,
MobileServe
Louisville, Ky.

Sadiqa N. Reynolds
President and CEO,
Louisville Urban
League
Louisville, Ky.

Randy W. Schumaker
President and Chief
Management Officer,
Logan Aluminum Inc.
Russellville, Ky.

1917 - 2017

Note: Logo is to be
used only in conjunction
with FRBSTL-Louisville logo.
Never use alone

LOUISVILLE BRANCH
CENTENNIAL

6 5

Photo by Doris Kuprion of Louisville, Ky.

When the Branch’s new building was opened in 1958 (above), the 158th Army
Band from nearby Fort Knox provided music, while the color guard from the
University of Louisville Navy ROTC raised the flag. In 1947 (left), the Fed’s
outreach was a literal endeavor as bankers and others climbed over fences on a
farm near Princeton, Ky., to hear a St. Louis Fed economist talk about pastures.
In the Branch’s new location today (above left), the board of directors meets.

L I F E

In 2016 alone, Louisville’s public outreach efforts
included more than 130 meetings with local busi-

To learn more about the Louisville
Branch, visit www.stlouisfed.org/
louisville.

F O R

Nearly a century later, the Louisville Branch still
serves the communities of southern Indiana and
central and western Kentucky. Its early role as an
operations center for check and cash processing
has shifted to one of public outreach, notably in
the areas of community development and economic education.

ness leaders, more than 20 speeches,
nearly a dozen economic-outlook events
and roughly 40 visits with bank CEOs.
Public outreach also brought economic
literacy resources to schools, from pre-K
through college, and supported a pilot
program to introduce children’s savings
accounts to local elementary schools. The
Louisville Branch also collaborated with
our Center for Household Financial Stability on events aimed at strengthening the
balance sheets of families—and the list
goes on.

L I T E R A C Y

n Dec. 3, 1917, the first branch of the
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
was opened, in Louisville. The city’s
regional importance as an industrial
base and leading banking center made it nearly
certain that the Federal Reserve would open a
branch there.

E C O N O M I C

100
C O M M E M O R AT I N G

6 6
|

BOARD OF
DIRECTORS

A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

MEMPHIS

Roy Molitor Ford Jr.
Vice Chairman and
CEO, Commercial
Bank and Trust Co.
Memphis, Tenn.

Douglas Scarboro (left), senior vice
president and regional executive of the
Memphis Branch, chatting with former
Memphis board member J.W. Gibson II
while on a tour of Memphis sights with
other St. Louis Fed officials.

Chairman
David T. Cochran Jr.
Partner, CoCo
Planting Co.
Avon, Miss.

Michael E. Cary
President and CEO,
Carroll Bank and Trust
Huntingdon, Tenn.

J. Brice Fletcher
Chairman, First
National Bank of
Eastern Arkansas
Forrest City, Ark.

Julianne Goodwin
Owner, Express
Employment
Professionals
Tupelo, Miss.

Carolyn Chism Hardy
President and CEO,
Chism Hardy
Investments LLC
Collierville, Tenn.

Eric D. Robertson
President, Community
LIFT Corp.
Memphis, Tenn.

The Eighth Federal Reserve District is composed of four zones, each of which is
centered around one of the four cities where our offices are located: St. Louis
(headquarters), Little Rock, Louisville and Memphis. Nearly 15 million people
live in the Eighth Federal Reserve District.

L I T E R A C Y

INDIANA

ILLINOIS

KENTUCKY

MISSOURI
ARKANSAS

TENNESSEE

LITTLE ROCK
MEMPHIS

MISSISSIPPI

LOUISVILLE

6 7

11K

ST. LOUIS

BOARD OF
GOVERNORS

L I F E

10J

F O R

7G
12L

E C O N O M I C

THE EIGHTH FEDERAL
RESERVE DISTRICT–8H

6 8
A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

INDUSTRY
COUNCILS
AGRIBUSINESS COUNCIL

HEALTH CARE COUNCIL

Meredith B. Allen
President and CEO, Staple Cotton
Cooperative Association
Greenwood, Miss.

Rhamy Alejeal
Owner and CEO, Poplar Financial
Memphis, Tenn.

John Rodgers Brashier
Vice President, Consolidated
Catfish Producers LLC
Isola, Miss.
Cynthia Edwards
Deputy Secretary,
Arkansas Agriculture Department
Little Rock, Ark.
Sam J. Fiorello
COO and Senior Vice President,
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center;
President, BRDG Park
St. Louis
Edward O. Fryar Jr.
CEO and Founder, Ozark Mountain Poultry
Rogers, Ark.
Dana Huber
Vice President, Marketing/Public Relations,
Huber’s Orchard, Winery & Vineyards, and
Starlight Distillery
Borden, Ind.
Wayne Hunt
President, H&R Agri-Power
Hopkinsville, Ky.
Jennifer H. James
Owner, H&J Land Co.
Newport, Ark.
Ted Longacre
CEO, Mesa Foods LLC
Louisville, Ky.
Brett Norman
Director of Sales and Marketing, Mavrx Inc.
Memphis, Tenn.
Chris Novak
CEO, National Corn Growers Association
St. Louis
Tania Seger
Vice President of Finance, North American
Commercial Operations, Monsanto Co.
St. Louis

Carla Balch
President, NantCare; Senior Vice
President, Clinical Strategy, NantKwest Inc.
Memphis, Tenn.
Mike Castellano
CEO, Esse Health
St. Louis
Cynthia Crone
Faculty Instructor, University of Arkansas for
Medical Sciences, College of Public Health,
Department of Health Policy and Management
Little Rock, Ark.
June McAllister Fowler
Senior Vice President, Communications
and Marketing, BJC HealthCare
St. Louis
Diana Han
Chief Medical Officer, GE Appliances
and Lighting
Louisville, Ky.
Lisa M. Klesges
Professor of Epidemiology,
University of Memphis
Memphis, Tenn.
Susan L. Lang
CEO, HooPayz.com
St. Louis
Jason M. Little
President and CEO, Baptist
Memorial Health Care Corp.
Memphis, Tenn.
Brandy N. Kelly Pryor
Director, Center for Health Equity for the
Louisville Metro Department of Public
Health and Wellness
Louisville, Ky.
Robert “Bo” Ryall
President and CEO, Arkansas
Hospital Association
Little Rock, Ark.
Alan Wheatley
President, Retail Segment, Humana
Louisville, Ky.

Council members represent a wide range of Eighth
District industries and businesses and periodically
report on economic conditions to help inform
monetary policy deliberations.

Joshua Poag
President and CEO,
Poag Shopping Centers LLC
Memphis, Tenn.
Lester T. Sanders
Realtor, Semonin Realtors
Louisville, Ky.

David Keach
President and CEO, Gateway Truck
& Refrigeration
Collinsville, Ill.
Mike McCarthy
President, Terminal Railroad Association
of St. Louis
St. Louis
Mark L. McCloud
Chief Financial Officer, UPS Airlines
Louisville, Ky.
Judy R. McReynolds
Chairman, President and CEO, ArcBest Corp.
Fort Smith, Ark.
Brent Stottlemyre
Interim President and CFO,
UniGroup Inc.
Fenton, Mo.
David Tatman
Executive Director, Kentucky Automotive
Industry Association; Associate Vice
President for Advanced Manufacturing,
Western Kentucky University
Rockfield, Ky.

6 9

Larry K. Jensen
President and CEO, Cushman & Wakefield |
Commercial Advisors
Memphis, Tenn.

Stephanie Ivey
Director of Intermodal Freight Transportation
Institute, University of Memphis
Memphis, Tenn.

Janet Horlacher
President, Janet McAfee Inc.
St. Louis

Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge
Director of Airports,
St. Louis Lambert International Airport
St. Louis

L I F E

David L. Hardy
Managing Director, CBRE Inc.
Louisville, Ky.

Michael D. Garriga
Executive Director of State Government
Affairs, BNSF Railway
Memphis, Tenn.

F O R

Martin Edwards Jr.
President, Edwards Management Inc. Realtors
Memphis, Tenn.

Bryan Day
Executive Director, Little Rock Port Authority
Little Rock, Ark.

L I T E R A C Y

Mark A. Bentley
Principal, Managing Director, Central Arkansas,
Colliers International
Little Rock, Ark.

TRANSPORTATION COUNCIL

E C O N O M I C

REAL ESTATE COUNCIL

7 0
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R E P O R T
A N N U A L

COMMUNITY
DEPOSITORY
INSTITUTIONS
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Elizabeth G. McCoy, Chair
President and CEO, Planters Bank
Hopkinsville, Ky.

David Doedtman
President and CEO, Washington Savings Bank
Effingham, Ill.

Jeffrey Dean Agee
Chairman and CEO,
First Citizens National Bank
Dyersburg, Tenn.

Craig Esrael
President and CEO, First South Financial
Credit Union
Bartlett, Tenn.

Kevin Beckemeyer
President and CEO, Legence Bank
Eldorado, Ill.

Karen Harbin
President and CEO,
Commonwealth Credit Union
Frankfort, Ky.

Russell “Rusty” Bennett
President and CEO, First National
Bank of Clarksdale
Clarksdale, Miss.
David Bentele
President and CEO, Citizens National
Bank of Greater St. Louis
Maplewood, Mo.
Shaun Burke
President and CEO, Guaranty Bank
Springfield, Mo.

Council members meet twice a year to advise the
St. Louis Fed’s president on the credit, banking and
economic conditions facing their institutions and
communities. The council’s chair also meets
twice a year in Washington, D.C., with the
Federal Reserve chair and governors.

Jeffrey L. Lynch
President and CEO, Eagle Bank
and Trust
Little Rock, Ark.
Eric R. Olinger
President, Freedom Bank
Huntingburg, Ind.
Ann Cowley Wells
Chair and CEO, Commonwealth
Bank and Trust Company
Louisville, Ky.

Andy Fraizer
Executive Director,
Prosperity Indiana
Indianapolis, Ind.
Timothy Lampkin
CEO, Higher Purpose Co.;
Co-Founder, Capway
Clarksdale, Miss.
Christie McCravy
Executive Director, Louisville
Affordable Housing Trust Fund
Louisville, Ky.
Debra Moore
Director of Administration,
St. Clair County, Ill.
Belleville, Ill.

Deborah Temple
Senior Manager, Entrepreneurship,
Communities Unlimited Inc.
Pine Bluff, Ark.
Robert J. Wasserman
Business Development Officer,
U.S. Bancorp Community
Development Corp.
St. Louis
Amy Whitehead
Director, Community Development Institute
and Center for Community and Economic
Development, University of Central Arkansas
Conway, Ark.
Cassandra Williams
Vice President and Regional Branch
Administrator, Hope Federal Credit Union
Memphis, Tenn.

The council keeps the St. Louis Fed’s president and
staff informed about community development in the
Eighth District and suggests ways for the Bank to support
local development efforts.

7 1

Rex Duncan
President, Champion
Community Investments
Carbondale, Ill.

Margaret S. Sherraden
Founders Professor of Social Work,
University of Missouri-St. Louis;
Research Professor,
Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis

Bryce Butler
Managing Director, Access Ventures
Louisville, Ky.

Kenneth S. Robinson
President and CEO, United Way
of the Mid-South
Memphis, Tenn.

L I F E

Jay Bassett
Division Chief, Governor’s Dislocated
Worker Task Force, Arkansas Department
of Workforce Services
Little Rock, Ark.

Amanda Payne
Assistant Vice President, CRA; Fair Lending
Officer, Independence Bank
Owensboro, Ky.

F O R

Arlisa Armstrong
Area Director, Rural Development, United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Jackson, Tenn.

Martie North
Senior Vice President, Director of Community
Development/CRA, Simmons First National Bank
Little Rock, Ark.

L I T E R A C Y

Ivye Allen
President, Foundation for the Mid South
Jackson, Miss.

E C O N O M I C

COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
ADVISORY COUNCIL

7 2
|
2 0 1 6
R E P O R T
A N N U A L

FEDERAL
ADVISORY COUNCIL
REPRESENTATIVE
Ronald J. Kruszewski
Chairman and CEO,
Stifel Financial Corp.
St. Louis

The FAC is composed of one representative from each
of the 12 Federal Reserve districts. Members confer with
the Fed’s Board of Governors at least four times a year
on economic and banking developments and make
recommendations on Fed System activities.

RETIREES

From the Boards of Directors
and Advisory Councils

We express our gratitude to those members of the boards of directors and of our
advisory councils who retired over the previous year.

FROM THE BOARDS OF DIRECTORS
St. Louis
Cal McCastlain
Little Rock
Michael A. Cook
Mark White
Louisville
David P. Heintzman

FROM THE INDUSTRY COUNCILS
Agribusiness
Cecil C. “Barney” Barnett
Health Care
Anthony Zipple
Real Estate
Katherine A. Deck
Gregory J. Kozicz

FROM THE COMMUNITY
DEPOSITORY INSTITUTIONS
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Glenn D. Barks
John D. Haynes Sr.
Charles Horton
Dennis McIntosh

FROM THE COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL
John Bucy
Terrance Clark
Brian Fogle
Rita Green
Ben Joergens
Keith Sanders
Sarina Strack

David A. Sapenaro
First Vice President
and COO

Karl W. Ashman
Executive Vice
President

Karen L. Branding
Senior Vice President

Cletus C. Coughlin
Senior Vice President
and Chief of Staff to
the President

Nikki R. Jackson
Senior Vice President
and Regional Executive,
Louisville Branch

Mary H. Karr
Senior Vice President,
General Counsel
and Secretary

Kathleen O’Neill Paese
Executive Vice
President

Julie L. Stackhouse
Executive Vice
President

Christopher J. Waller
Executive Vice
President and
Director of Research

L I T E R A C Y

James Bullard
President and CEO

E C O N O M I C

BANK
MANAGEMENT
COMMITTEE

F O R
L I F E
|
7 3

74
A N N U A L

R E P O R T

2 0 1 6

BANK
OFFICERS
James Bullard
President and CEO

David Andolfatto
Vice President

Jennifer M. Beatty
Assistant Vice President

David A. Sapenaro
First Vice President and COO

Cassie R. Blackwell
Vice President

Diane E. Berry
Assistant Vice President

Karl W. Ashman
Executive Vice President

Adam L. Brown
Vice President

Heidi L. Beyer
Assistant Vice President

Kathleen O’Neill Paese
Executive Vice President

Timothy C. Brown
Vice President

Susan M. Black
Assistant Vice President

Julie L. Stackhouse
Executive Vice President

Marilyn K. Corona
Vice President

Ray J. Boshara
Assistant Vice President

Christopher J. Waller
Executive Vice President

Kent T. Eckert
Vice President

Winchell S. Carroll Jr.
Assistant Vice President

Karen L. Branding
Senior Vice President

Carlos Garriga
Vice President

Christopher D. Chalfant
Assistant Vice President

Cletus C. Coughlin
Senior Vice President

Timothy R. Heckler
Vice President

Jill Schlueter Dorries
Assistant Vice President

Robert A. Hopkins
Senior Vice President
and Regional Executive

Roy A. Hendin
Vice President

William D. Dupor
Assistant Vice President

Debra E. Johnson
Vice President

William R. Emmons
Assistant Vice President

B. Ravikumar
Vice President

Kathy A. Freeman
Assistant Vice President

Katrina L. Stierholz
Vice President

James W. Fuchs
Assistant Vice President

Donny J. Trankler
Vice President

Joseph A. Gambino
Assistant Vice President

Scott M. Trilling
Vice President

Patricia M. Goessling
Assistant Vice President

James L. Warren
Vice President

Stephen P. Greene
Assistant Vice President

David C. Wheelock
Vice President

Tamara S. Grimm
Assistant Vice President

Carl D. White II
Vice President

Lena Harness
Assistant Vice President

Stephen D. Williamson
Vice President

Karen L. Harper
Assistant Vice President

Terri A. Aly
Assistant Vice President

Jennifer A. Haynes
Assistant Vice President

Jane Anne Batjer
Assistant Vice President

Kevin L. Henry
Assistant Vice President

Alexander Baur
Assistant Vice President

Cathryn L. Hohl
Assistant Vice President

Nikki R. Jackson
Senior Vice President
and Regional Executive
Mary H. Karr
Senior Vice President
Michael D. Renfro
Senior Vice President
Douglas G. Scarboro
Senior Vice President
and Regional Executive
Matthew W. Torbett
Senior Vice President
Jonathan C. Basden
Group Vice President
Timothy A. Bosch
Group Vice President
Anna M. Helmering Hart
Group Vice President
Amy C. Hileman
Group Vice President
Michael J. Mueller
Group Vice President
James A. Price
Group Vice President

Maurice D. Mahone
Assistant Vice President

Bryan B. Underwood
Assistant Vice President

Carolann M. Marker
Assistant Vice President

Yi Wen
Assistant Vice President

Jackie S. Martin
Assistant Vice President

Ranada Y. Williams
Assistant Vice President

Michael W. McCracken
Assistant Vice President

Dean A. Woolcott
Assistant Vice President

Christopher J. Neely
Assistant Vice President

Jeffrey S. Wright
Assistant Vice President

Arthur A. North II
Assistant Vice President

Christian M. Zimmermann
Assistant Vice President

Glen M. Owens
Assistant Vice President

Robyn A. Arnold
Officer

Michael T. Owyang
Assistant Vice President

Subhayu Bandyopadhyay
Officer

Christopher M. Pfeiffer
Assistant Vice President

Daniel P. Davis
Officer

Jennifer L. Robinson
Assistant Vice President

Kevin L. Kliesen
Officer

Craig E. Schaefer
Assistant Vice President

Alexander Monge-Naranjo
Officer

Abby L. Schafers
Assistant Vice President

Juan M. Sánchez
Officer

Kathy A. Schildknecht
Assistant Vice President

Lili St. Christopher
Officer

Philip G. Schlueter
Assistant Vice President

Guillaume A. Vandenbroucke
Officer

Amy B. Simpkins
Assistant Vice President
Scott B. Smith
Assistant Vice President
Yvonne S. Sparks
Assistant Vice President
Kristina L. Stierholz
Assistant Vice President

7 5

Brenda Torres
Assistant Vice President

Christopher T. Laughman
Assistant Vice President

L I F E

Mary C. Suiter
Assistant Vice President

F O R

Catherine A. Kusmer
Assistant Vice President

L I T E R A C Y

Rebecca M. Stoltz
Assistant Vice President

E C O N O M I C

Terri L. Kirchhofer
Assistant Vice President

7 6
|
2 0 1 6
R E P O R T
A N N U A L

Credits
Project Manager and Editor:
Assistant Project Manager and Editor:
Art Director and Designer:
Website Designer:
Contributing Writers and Editors:

Al Stamborski
Doreen Knapik
Kathie Lauher
Matt Heller
Kristie Engemann

Maria Hasenstab

Suzanne Shenkman

Photographers:

Multimedia:

Kathie Lauher
Adam Robinson
Mark Kunzelmann
Michael Kera

Contact Us
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
One Federal Reserve Bank Plaza
Broadway and Locust Street
St. Louis, MO 63102
314-444-8444

For additional copies, contact:
Public Affairs
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
P.O. Box 442
St. Louis, MO 63166

Little Rock Branch
Stephens Building
111 Center St., Ste. 1000

This report is also available
online at:

Little Rock, AR 72201

www.stlouisfed.org/

501-324-8300

annual-report/2016.

Louisville Branch
National City Tower
101 S. Fifth St., Ste. 1920
Louisville, KY 40202
502-568-9200
Memphis Branch
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Memphis, TN 38103
901-531-5000

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Are

Our Community Development Department promotes growth in

housing market conditions
getting better or

worse in your area?

Every quarter, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis posts a report on its website with the latest data on
housing market conditions in the U.S., with a particular emphasis on the seven states that the St. Louis
Fed serves (Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee) and four largest
MSAs within our district.

In each report, you will see:
• Color-coded maps that show the percentage

of mortgages
considered seriously delinquent or in foreclosure,

as well as maps that show the change in these numbers since the last
report. The U.S. maps are divided into counties; the state and MSA maps
are broken down by ZIP codes.

• A simple chart showing how

house prices
have changed. The chart starts in 2000 so

that you can see prices before the financial crisis,
during it and afterward. A separate chart is available
for the U.S., for each of our states and for the MSAs
of Little Rock, Louisville, Memphis and St. Louis.
St. Louis, Mo.
MSA House Prices
St. Louis, Mo MSA House Prices!

U.S. DATA

150!

INDEXED: Q1 2000 =Indexed:
100
Q1 2000 = 100!

140!

130!

120!

low- and moderate-income communities and access to credit in
underserved markets. Check out its Housing Market Conditions

110!

100!

Federal Housing Finance Agency Seasonally Adjusted Expanded HPI!

CoreLogic Seasonally Adjusted HPI!

Federal Housing Finance Agency Seasonally Adjusted
Expanded HPI

CoreLogic Seasonally Adjusted HPI

• For each of our states and the four MSAs, there’s

STATE DATA

MSA DATA

also a list of the 10 ZIP codes with the
highest percentage of mortgages
under stress.
Kentucky
ZIP CODE

Arkansas

Memphis

Clarksville, TN-KY
Covington, KY

40212

A new report on housing
market conditions is published
every March, June, September
and December.

COUNTY

42262
41014