ECON 4410

If you are a math-averse Economics major, this class is probably a good fit for you. It blends elements of history, economic theory, and policy studies into one course that will leave you with a basic, solid understanding of the political economy of the European Union. However, if you think you might have a hard time waking up early in the morning to take diligent notes regarding the Common Agricultural Policy, then you might want to consider another course.

There are two papers, a presentation, a midterm and a final. As is the case for any class taught by Professor James, the lecture is basically a SparkNotes summary of the readings, and the tests only cover stuff that came up during lecture -- thus, if you attend every class, take good notes and study your notes thoroughly, you can expect a B or so on the exams, even if you utterly neglect the readings. However, if you want As on the exams in this class (or in any other class taught by Professor James), you will need to study the readings and make it clear in the tests' essay sections that you have done so (reference the articles or their authors, cite concepts that only appeared in the readings, etc). Insofar as Professor James always assigns unrealistically large quantities of reading, the most time-effective way to assimilate their information is to form a study group and to divide the readings up, with each member writing summaries of their readings and sharing their summaries with the group. You'll be really thankful if you do this, especially when finals week rolls around and you don't have 500 pages of reading to catch up on.

I don't, however, have any shortcut to share regarding the papers or the presentation; just do a decent amount of research and make intelligent points, and you should be rewarded.

Not the best or worst econ class. James can be boring but gives you most of the info you need for the tests if you can pay attention. Midterm/final, and two ten page papers make up your grade. All theory-based, no math.

It's an entirely history-based course. The text was written in 2007, and any exploration of what happened after 1992 is from student presentations that make up the last month of the course. Tests are history exams--IDs, essays, and short answer.