ECON 3720

The hardest content of any class I have taken. Good professor, although grading is difficult. Problem sets not very well aligned with tests. You get to have a cheat sheet for exams, I would recommend putting down all formulas and intuitions for everything you need to know. Just try to cram as much of the content in as possible. Lectures are well organized but the content is difficult, so it may take you some time to reflect on lecture and understand the content. He almost exclusively uses slides, which is sometimes detrimental to understanding the math, but is great for reviewing all the content and putting it on your cheat sheet. Read the book. Haruka was a very helpful TA.

This is a VERY challenging course but you can come out of it having learned a lot. Harrigan is a tough teacher but he does a good job explaining complicated statistics. The tests are really hard but he curves everything to a B average. There isn't really a lot of economics material, it's just statistics applied to economic situations. You use a program called STATA that can be difficult to figure out but Harrigan's powerpoints and the TAs are very helpful with learning how to use it. It's a very difficult class but while doing the final project at the end of the course there were several times where I actually enjoyed what I was doing, and the feeling of pride in what I had accomplished afterwards was priceless.

I highly recommend this class if you want to despise your semester/life. Otherwise, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. He never uses examples in class (his slides are nothing but formulas, and he doesn't show how to use them), tests are blood baths, and the final project has no guidelines. You do not learn how to actually use STATA in this class (all you learn is how to copy his, which leaves you helpless for the empirical project), and what he teaches is all theoretical. Basically, no part of this class will be useful in the future. At this point, I am hoping just for a passing grade. Is this an econ based class? No. Is this a stat/math based class? No. Is this all theory and then he expects you to figure out how to apply it? Yes.
If you need to take this class, take it with another teacher.

I know a lot of people in class didn't like Harrigan, and he isn't the friendliest guy in the world, but if you go to his office hours, he's very very helpful. Knows the material, willing to offer help in a way that challenges you intellectually and really help you answer questions yourself. He does make the class a little harder than it should be. There's a final project thats 30% of your whole grade. Harrigan really didn't give any instructions, so it was pretty much all trial and error on stata, but if you put enough time into it and can somehow prove that in your paper, the project can actually help you with your grade.
Overall, difficult but worthwhile class. If you're an econ major and have to take 372, take it with harrigan.

He really knows what he's talking about. This class was such a pain but I learend a lot. Probably going away with a mediocre grade at best, but I feel like I've learned a lot.

James Harrigan is a phenomenal teacher, but he makes this class much harder than it needs to be. However, it is incredibly useful if you are thinking of doing the finance concentration; his teaching makes 4720 easier.

This was the worst class of my semester. He assigns an "Empirical Project" with little to no direction and then proceeds to grade harshly. Homework was strictly graded with little to no partial credit given. The midterms were fair enough, but Harrigan teaches this course like a grad school level. I would go a different route.

Edit: Everything I've learned in this class has been relevant for most if not all of my classes. Even though this class was VERY time consuming, the material you learn from it is very very useful.

If you have to take ECON3720, Harrigan should be the last professor you wanna have. He's strict and cold. The class is extremely hard. Very theoretical. If you're taking his class, you'll find your friends in other sessions have a far easier life than you do. If you're looking for frustration, his class is your best choice

Difficult class required for Econ majors. Class is not especially interesting unless you enjoy statistics.