Scott Wolla

Welcome!

I’m Scott Wolla, a lifelong economic educator who serves as an Assistant Vice President and Economic Education Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. I focus on making economics clear, relevant, and useful for students, educators, and the public by translating complex ideas into practical insights.

I have taught economics in high school, college, and professional development settings for more than 25 years, and that classroom experience continues to shape how I design and share resources today. I’ve co-authored textbooks and teaching materials, and published widely on economic literacy, monetary policy, and effective teaching practices. Beyond writing, I enjoy connecting with learners and colleagues through speaking, teaching, and developing classroom tools that bring economics to life.

You can contact me at scott.wolla@gmail.com

Google Scholar

St. Louis Fed webpage

Curriculum Vitae

Professional Bio

Scott Wolla is a lifelong economic educator and curriculum developer. As assistant vice president and economic education officer, he directs economic education programming at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He earned a PhD in curriculum and instruction from Saint Louis University, an MA in economics for educators from the University of Delaware, an MS from Bemidji State University, and a BS from Minnesota State University Moorhead.

He has produced more than 300 published teaching resources, including lessons, online learning modules, videos, articles, and podcasts. He has hosted the popular Economic Lowdown podcast and video series, hosts the Teach Economics podcast, and is a primary author and content editor of Page One Economics.

His research on economics education and pedagogy has appeared in The Journal of Economic Education, The American Economist, Review of Political Economy, Journal of Economics Teaching, Social Education, and Social Studies Research and Practice. He has also contributed chapters to books, including Innovations in Economic Education: Promising Practices for Teachers and Students K–16.

In 2019, recognizing a gap in monetary policy curricula, Scott partnered with an economist at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to develop a national public-information campaign explaining significant changes in how the Federal Reserve implements monetary policy. Together, they created teaching resources to help instructors incorporate the new framework into their courses. Their work helped modernize the teaching of monetary policy and was featured in The Economist, The New York Times, and NPR’s economics podcast The Indicator.

In 2024–2025, Scott led a Federal Reserve System initiative to launch Federal Reserve Education, a national website that brings together hundreds of classroom resources, interactive learning modules, and professional development opportunities for K–16 educators.

Scott is a member of the American Economic Association’s Committee on Economic Education (AEA-CEE) and a trustee of the Calvin K. Kazanjian Economics Foundation. He also served on the writing team for the third edition of the National Content Standards in K–12 Economics. From 2015 to 2022, he served on the Federal Reserve Economic Education Leads Committee, which he chaired from 2019 to 2020. He also served on the executive board of the National Association of Economic Educators (NAEE) from 2019 to 2022. In 2020, NAEE presented him with the Bessie B. Moore Service Award in recognition of his service to the economic education community. He also received the St. Louis Fed’s 2018 President’s Award for Innovation for creating the Women in Economics Symposium.

Before joining the St. Louis Fed, Scott taught economics and history in Minnesota for 14 years. During that time, he received numerous teaching awards, including the 2006 3M Economic Educator Excellence Award and the Minnesota Council on Economic Education’s 2003 Innovative Economic Educator Award. Currently, Scott teaches economics as an adjunct instructor at Washington University in St. Louis.