ECON 4310

Great but intellectually challenging class. The class is mainly about understanding a government intervention (e.g. subsidy/tax/vaucher/insurance/providing a public good), its effect on individual budget constraints and how it might affect an individuals optimal choice. The concrete examples are mostly simplifications of existing government programs in the US. No extensive calculus but a lot of graphs. Readings irrelevant, focus on the lectures. The ability to think out of the box is a clear advantage in this class, especially for the final and for the graded practice problems (not so much for the midterm). Graded practice problems make up 40% of the final grade. The midterm 20% if it is better than the final, otherwise 0%

A good way to approach this course is to think through your previous semesters of Econ and note how professors will often say something like, “This relates to the government’s actions, but we’re going to ignore those here for simplicity.” If you’re interested in the government side of the economy, this is the course for you. The course is both an overview of all of that, as well as an introduction to the Public Policy concentration and its constituent courses. Olsen is an excellent professor, well versed in the subject matter and highly-engaging. The subject matter itself is also very interesting and is not particularly difficult (more like an application of 301). This being the case, the grading is fairly harsh. Grades consist of midterm and final exams, as well as the best two grades of four assigned “graded problems.” The TA, Scott, graded the latter, and graded unforgivingly. Olsen’s grading of the exams is reasonable, and though he does say he curves the class such that the median grade is a B+, there did not appear to me to be any curve at all. Highly recommended to any Econ student interested in public policy, though keep in mind the harsh grading.