ECON 4440

DISCLAIMER: The professor changed the coursework at the end of the semester because there was a shooting on campus. As a result, I did not have to write the final paper that students normally submit.

This is absolutely one of the best classes that I have ever attended in my academic career. The material is fascinating and extremely relevant to contemporary political and socioeconomic discussions. Professor Harrigan does a fantastic job of structuring the course, assigning interesting and relevant readings, and lecturing in a way that is personal and engaging. He is extremely sharp, and he always has insightful things to say when students ask questions. He has high expectations of his students, but he is more than willing to help his students meet the bar he sets. I am particularly impressed by Harrigan's ability to stay neutral on controversial topics and present the academic findings in an unbiased manner; when he does share opinions, he makes sure to let the class know that he is merely presenting his thoughts on the topic.

He changes the course a little bit every year as new research comes out and students share feedback, but the basic structure is as follows. The first third of the course covers the main data and findings on economic inequality: the supply and wages of workers of different education levels; the level of wages at different points in the income distribution; the level of wages for different tasks and occupations; the distribution of income in the top percentiles of the income distribution; Black-White economic inequality; and philosophical views of economic inequality. The second third of the course covers the main explanations and theories for the trends that we study in the first third of the class: the skill-biased technological change hypothesis; the Ricardian model of the labor market; the specific-factors model; the "China Shock"; the Feenstra-Hanson model of offshoring and wages; and theories of CEO pay and the economics of superstars. Finally, the last third of the course covers research into economic policy related to the topics we discussed in the first and second thirds of the course: the distribution of federal taxes and income; the effects of taxes on labor supply; the top marginal tax rate; regulation and deregulation of the financial industry; the effects of minimum wage laws; the economics of universal basic income proposals; the effects of student loan debt cancellation; and the effects of early childhood intervention programs.

The homework assignments are reasonable in scope, and they are very enjoyable, especially if you enjoy using Stata. If you feel rusty with Stata and are finding the assignments difficult, you can always attend the TA's office hours or ask questions in discussions. The readings are fascinating and super helpful, and he provides many optional readings for those that are interested in going beyond the basics. The exams are not difficult if you pay attention and study, as professor Harrigan is not interested in tricking students or forcing them to devote an inordinate amount of time to preparing. He is mostly trying to figure out if you are grasping the material presented in class and thinking about your own perspectives on the topics we discuss. He also allows students to use a cheat sheet.

All in all, I am extremely glad that I took this class. It is easily one of the best-taught and most interesting classes that I have ever attended. I cannot recommend this class enough!

Professor Harrigan is a great professor, very invested in the class, and is very knowledgeable. I rarely read for the class, but it is important that you know the concepts of the readings. The homework was challenging, my partner and I would sometimes spend multiple hours a day working on an assignment. However, this would most of the time be due to neither of us attending or paying attention during discussions or having to read lecture slides. Reading over lecture slides was extremely beneficial!

This course is super interesting and not really hard! But, my TA (Ishita gambir) was a legend and went through the homework each week, which made the course 10x easier. This class does use Stata, and if Ishita didn’t help us tremendously with the stata code this class would have been miserable. Professor Harrigan does a good job leaving any political bias at the door and presents the issue of economic inequality pretty fairly. He’s a great professor who really cares about his students’ success and loves engaging in conversation during lecture. Very informative and interesting class and not too hard!

I quite enjoyed this class. Harrigan is a very good lecturer who can explain complex ideas and models effectively. The topics and materials covered in class are absolutely fascinating and of course, very pertinent to today. The tests can be a bit of a time crunch but if you're keeping up with the readings and understand them you'll do fine. The paper is tough, as other reviewers have noted he doesn't give much guidance except that your topic has to be pre-approved. My partner and I ended up getting a 60% on it which is awful in a vacuum, but that somehow was within one standard deviation of the mean (which was like a 73%). My final grade in the class (B) was fine, although I was solidly on track for an A before the paper. So it is ultimately a tough class, but well worth it in my opinion.

---- Summary ---- I absolutely loved this course. Harrigan is incredibly interested in the subject of economic equality, and it entirely shows through his passion during his lectures. I didn't need to do any of the readings because his explanations in class were so good. There are weekly homeworks which are time consuming but doable with the help of discussion and a couple of emails to the TA. He curves the average grade to a B at the end. The class is difficult but rewarding and interesting so I'd recommend it if you have any interest in the subject.

---- Tests ---- The three tests are all fairly similar, with the second being a bit more difficult and longer. All of the material is taken from the notes. I'd suggest typing up the cheat sheet on a Word document and printing it out 4 pages per sheet so you have essentially 8 pages are nicely typed notes. Pace yourself well -- 10 minutes/question so you have 15 minutes to review your answers at the end.

---- Paper ---- The paper is a great experience. I will definitely talk about it in future interviews. You need to talk to Harrigan about your topic before you submit your proposal because he really helps you hone in on an interesting topic to choose. Additionally, I would suggest compiling you data early and bringing it to Harrigan to discuss. He's interested in helping his students and he really values effort. My partner and I met with him once to review our proposal before submission, and twice regarding the data (first time he told us to redo it a different way and explained how to do it better, second time to discuss explanations for our data). By doing so, we received a 100% on our paper.

This was a fine class; I was fairly interested in the subject, and was satisfied with the class...until the final 3 weeks. Inequality is inherently a touchy subject, and Harrigan did a fair job staying objective for most of the course. His biases came out mostly during the policy unit of the class, not only in his lectures, but in the very material for the class and the way in which it was presented. The tests are fine, perhaps a bit of a time-crunch, but except for the unnecessarily-difficult second test, they're fine.
I have a lot of problems with the way he handles the final paper, and I wish I could go back and severely change my Collab class review so he knows. Anyways, here is the lowdown: he asks you to write a paper that deals with economic inequality, without giving any sort of guidelines in terms of expectations, length, analysis, etc. The average score on the final paper is a 77, with a standard deviation of 17 points. Students are given no explanation as to what accounts for such a drastic difference in paper quality. You could get a 100 on it with regressions that are entirely incorrect, or you could get a 50 on it with similar effort and analysis. Your final grade is at the whim of how you do on this paper, so if you don't mind having no idea of your final grade until you see it on SIS, then take this class.

This class was created by this professor. There is no textbook, but there are research papers and a nonfiction book to read. The readings are not necessary for the exams, but very helpful for the final paper. The professor is good, I’d recommend taking the course if you are interested in inequality. Learned a lot!

You can use a cheat sheet on exams.

By far the best Econ class I've taken at UVA. Professor Harrigan crafted the course himself and doesn't use a textbook or other outside guidance. Instead, he curates a syllabus based on the research he thinks is important. Harrigan himself is personable, funny, and an engaging lecturer, and he makes the class of 40 students feel like a small seminar by learning students' names, encouraging participation, and generally being likeable. The assigned reading is helpful, especially for writing the final paper, but not necessary because he does such a good job explaining the key concepts in class. Exams are non-cumulative, and you're allowed to bring a double-sided cheat sheet into the exam with you. Further, they're not very mathematic and more focused on your comprehension of the key concepts discussed in class. The homework component is the most difficult and time-consuming part of the course, because you're asked to do complex STATA manipulation, but it is covered during discussion section by the TA, who posts helpful do files on the Collab site to help students complete the homework. There is also a paper component, which lets you take a topic you choose from the course and write an original analysis on it. Overall, this class was relatively easy (in contrast to more math and econometrics-heavy Econ electives) and extremely valuable. Not only do you have the opportunity to actually apply the Economic knowledge you gain from the Econ requisite classes, but you leave the course with a comprehensive understanding of what is probably the defining issue of our generation: rising inequality. Whether this knowledge propels you to graduate-study research on the topic, motivates you to read Capital in the Twenty-First Century, or just impresses friends and relatives at social events, it is a truly valuable course.

This class was AWESOME. Harrigan is such a good professor and makes each lecture engaging and interesting. Staying impressively neutral while teaching a decidedly political topic, he makes sure that you walk away from this class with a much better understanding of economic inequality and it is definitely one of the best econ electives I have taken at UVA. Personally, I found you didn't have to do the readings because he explained the material so clearly in lecture. Other than that, there are three tests (non-cumulative) and a problem set every other week or so as well as a final paper at the end. All in all, this is a great class and you should take it!

Professor Harrigan is an expert in the field of Economic Inequality and it shows. This class is very difficult, but each week you learn a lot of really interesting material. Harrigan does a great job of keeping the focus on economics and away political opinions/judgements about inequality. There are weekly HW problem sets that takes about 2-3 hours, 3 midterms, and 1 Final Paper. Overall, one of my top 3 courses ever taken at the university in terms of engaging material and amount learned. Everyone who's an Econ major should take this class before they graduate. Only danger is the final paper. It is graded ridiculously hard.

This course is great. As the subject matter is obviously controversial, it is easy to stay engaged throughout the semester. Harrigan is one of my favorite Econ professors I've had at UVA - very sharp, nerdy without being geeky, and a straightforward lecturer. While there are obvious political dimensions to the subject matter, Harrigan does a great job of staying rather objective and scientific. This course is an honest exploration into a controversial area of economics. The subject matter is pretty well balanced between being quantitative and qualitative. The course is split into three units: measurement; theory; and policy. Each unit is concluded with an exam, for which Harrigan allows you to bring in a two-sided cheat sheet. None of the exams were particularly difficult. In fact, Harrigan always complained that the class was exceeding his expectations on exams. The course also requires a final research paper, which entails original data collection and analysis. The paper is not too difficult, as you spend the entire semester reading the sort of academic papers that you are supposed to imitate, and Harrigan essentially holds your hand most of the way. You can choose to complete the paper with a partner. This also applies to the homework assignments. These homework assignments were due about every week or two, and usually involved a combination of algebraic and STATA calculations. This course is a good opportunity to build STATA skills after 3720. As for the TA, Yubo is probably the best Econ TA I've had at UVA. He is very smart, very helpful, good at making himself available to students, and he does not grade too harshly. Overall, this is an interesting and fun course. The professor is great, the TA is great, and the work is both challenging and rewarding. Highly recommended!