what level of education, on average, does it take for someone to be "well-read" in economics? at what level could they reasonably get the jist of an average technical paper?

the most common advice here for learning economics is to pick up a textbook, like mankiws. now as someone who has taken introductory econ (albeit with a different textbook, but basically the same material), most technical papers are complete gibberish to me, even with a strong math background (engineering)

at what level would you consider someone to have good foundational knowledge to reasonably understand and dissect a technical paper? graduate level? undergrad degree? obviously education level doesn't always ensure competence, but im wondering about an average, in your opinion

thanks!