For Educators
For the people who teach, advise and lead in econ ed.
I teach economics every semester, and the best ideas I've used in class came from other amazing educators. Decode Econ for educators is two things: DEEN, a community of economics educators who share what's working, and a podcast about the questions they are wrestling with right now.
Journal of Economics Teaching
Executive Director, 2022–2025
Kenneth G. Elzinga
Distinguished Teaching Award
NAEE Rising Star Award
National Association of Economic Educators
25+ peer-reviewed articles
1,000+ citations in economics education and financial literacy
The educator community
Join DEEN
DEEN is a network of economics and business educators, from high school classrooms to college lecture halls, who want to get better at teaching, together. We meet for an hour each month, share ideas, and give each other a place to share work in progress: a new study, an activity you're testing, or the lesson that flopped and why.
You don't need a polished assignment or a teaching award to join. Most members start by showing up to a meeting and telling the group what they're trying this semester.
What members get
- A monthly 60-minute virtual meeting with the whole network
- Room to share your work: present research, test an assignment, or get feedback before a conference
- A shared bank of assignments built by members
- Your teaching or research featured in the newsletter, Research Highlights and the podcast
- Meetups at SEA, CTREE and JET
How membership works
Go as far as you want. Plenty of members stay at step two, and that's fine.
01
Join
Apply online. You'll get a welcome note and an invite to the next monthly meeting.
02
Use
Assign a Decode Econ article or Research Highlight, then share what worked.
03
Contribute
Submit your research for a Research Highlight, come on the podcast, or add an assignment to the bank.
04
Lead
Be a campus ambassador and co-present with us at SEA, CTREE or JET.
Articles for your classroom
Ready to assign this week
Short enough to read before class, and each one ends with questions that work in a lecture hall and at the dinner table.
The podcast
Conversations about what economic educators are wrestling with
Every guest opens with a headline and what it means for their work. Then we get into their work. Each episode fits one of three themes.
Economic education
How great economics teachers teach, from Elzinga award winners to JET authors.
Education
Student success, belonging, AI in the classroom, enrollment pressure and the value of a degree.
Career development
What employers want, internships, first jobs and how the econ major pays off.
Latest episode · Oct 17, 2026
Money Habits Start at the Kitchen Table, with Dr. Stephen Day
Dr. Stephen Day, author of Teach a Kid to Save, on why habits matter more than information, and how a play-money economy at home lets kids practice money decisions early.
Know someone doing great teaching or research? DEEN members get first say on who we invite next.
Suggest a guestAbout Dr. A
I'm Abdullah Al-Bahrani, a professor of economics at Northern Kentucky University. From 2022 to 2025 I served as Executive Director of the Journal of Economics Teaching. My research is on how students learn economics, who feels like they belong in the major, and financial literacy. I founded The Econ Games and the Center for Economic Education at NKU.
I started Decode Econ because the economics in the headlines is the best teaching material we have. DEEN and the podcast are how I want to share it with the people doing that teaching.
Email me about speaking or workshopsTeaching is better when you're not doing it alone.
Apply to DEEN and join us at the next monthly meeting.
Apply to join DEENMacro
Micro
Both the CPI and PPI came in hotter than expected. The oil shock from the war is spreading to other prices, and once inflation gets into expectations, it’s much harder to bring down.