If before they didn't know anything about economics, and now they have a basic understanding of how a country's economy works, I wouldn't call that standing. Same with all other topics, going from "zero knowledge" to "basic knowledge" is already more than what 99% of the people on the planet will know about any given topic.
Of course you are right but the devil is in details. How do you know the level of "basic knowledge" has been earned? Keep in mind that topicstarter is interested not in STEM when the question can be answered easily, like you can or can not solve that tasks in the end of some chapters of your Physics textbook.
