PLIR 2050

This class is a great intro to economics, especially if you don’t have much background in it. As a foreign affairs major, I really enjoyed how it tied economics to international relations—it made the material feel super relevant and interesting.
The lectures were good and covered key theories with examples, but they didn’t always go super in-depth, and sometimes the professor’s explanations weren’t super clear so the readings were really helpful for understanding the material better and filling in any gaps.

The assignments were pretty doable. The policy memo wasn’t too hard, but we didn’t get much help or guidance on it. The midterm was tricky because what we were told to prepare for didn’t match what was expected... That being said, the final was straightforward and manageable within the three hours if you knew your stuff and paced yourself.

Overall, I’d recommend this class!

Took the class as a first year, I thought it was really interesting content and a good introduction into global politics and economic concepts. Workload was not bad, the two midterms and policy memos were fairly simple. However, the final was much more diffucult than the previous midterms. I didn't find the lectures helpful and most of my notes came from the assigned readings. TA discussion sections were also fairly helpful.

If you know about econ or if you are interested in it, this is a really easy but also interesting class.
You don't have to do the readings but I found them interesting so I did all of them.
The memos are easy to write because you can pick a topic of your choosing and you get a structure in advance.

This class is great if you're interested in economics and/or foreign affairs. You do not need to have much background in economics to take it. You will learn a lot, Pandya is a pretty good lecturer (can be a bit dry sometimes, but she definitely cares about the success of her students). Make sure to go to lecture and take notes-- lots of notes. Otherwise, readings aren't really that necessary. Assignments include Memos (basically current events that you relate to the class) and 2 exams (including final). Class is averaged to a B-

Get Brenton as your TA. He is the best TA I have ever had, hands down.