78% of Congress Didn't Major in Economics/Business

Do members of Congress need a business or economics major to make good economic policy? We better hope not, because a new study from the Employment Policies Institute found that only 22 percent of congressmen majored in those subjects, The Hill reports.


About 14 percent of the members of Congress majored in a business-related discipline, while 8.4 percent majored in an economics-related field, the study found.


A 55.7 percent majority of the lawmakers majored in government, law, or the humanities, while 11.5 percent majored in science- or technology-related areas, the study said.


"This research suggests that our elected representatives may want to dust off their Econ 101 textbook [if they have one] before trying to tackle weighty questions about the impact of taxes, spending, and debt on our economy and the labor market," an institute statement said.