ECON 3050

Don't need to put too much work into the class. One midterm, one final, and one group project. The readings aren't really necessary and the group project is kind of interesting and does not take too much time. However, Olsen is a boring lecturer and sometimes it was painfully difficult to stay awake (at 2 in the afternoon). The grading was also fairly arbitrary on essay-based test questions and the group project.

Learned a lot. Olsen makes course expectations incredibly clear.

Boring! If you like graphs, take this class. If you don't, stay away

Class isn't bad - only a midterm, a final, and a group project. Olsen is very straightforward and overall a really nice guy. Attendance isn't incredibly necessary and the reading is pretty light.
I recommend going out of the box with your presentation, though, and not doing what every other group does. He seems to reward creativity.

This is a solid class, Professor Olsen was pretty great. Make sure you show up to lecture and take pretty good notes because there really isn't any kind of textbook, just different readings he assigns online. At the end of the year there is a big group project about how you'd reform the welfare system, which is like 40% of your grade. This was my favorite class of the semester.

This ended up being one of my favorite classes at UVA. It starts slow with a lot of micro theory, which is boring if you've already taken ECON 3010 and a bit difficult to understand if you haven't. The midterm was impossibly difficult and scared everyone to death (class average was like a 60). Fortunately, the final is much much easier and is a dutch knockout; it can either be worth 40% or 60% of your grade. There is also a presentation worth 40% of your grade, which he is pretty lenient on.

Overall, Olsen is a little awkward and formal at times but he's the real deal and really knows his stuff. Once you really get into talking about the programs themselves, you'll learn a lot. I would definitely recommend this class to any econ major with a policy focus or anyone who can read graphs well and wants to learn about the welfare system.

Going to give you a very real breakdown of this class and why you should or should not take it. There are two group problem sets both worth 5% of your grade, a group project worth 30%, midterm worth either 20 or 30% depending on your score compared to your final and then the final worth 40 or 30%. What Olsen does with this class is incredibly frustrating because he makes the first grades really low which scares a lot of people and they withdraw (i almost withdrew myself and I ended with a B+ in the class). The first problem set average score was a low 60 and the median score on the midterm was like 119/200 or something (60% ish and he didn't say the average but i think it was even lower). So right off the bat 25% of your grade is done and it's shit so a lot of people panic and withdraw. However, then the next problem set the grade goes up significantly and the final project you will get a good grade on if you put in the work. The final was also much more fair than the midterm hence how I went from an D halfway through the semester to a B+ in this class. I will say that this class has almost no work besides the project and the problem sets and readings are unnecessary so that was nice. For some context, I got an A in Econ 3010 and I struggled in this class. I learned a lot and overall I think Olsen was knowledgeable and meant well but just thought this information is some stuff students should know before diving in.

The material from the class is interesting. If you are looking to understand how the welfare system works in terms of economics then you should take it. Professor Olsen is sometimes difficult to understand because the material itself is hard to understand. He isn't the clearest speaker but you can definitely tell that he is knowledgeable. If you ever are confused then all you need to do is ask for clarification. I understand the frustration behind his grading but don't be scared by the bad grades in the beginning. I got a 55 on the first group assignment, but as long as you listen well in class (take accurate notes and understand the graphs) then you'll get a good grade. I pulled a good grade out. His curve is ridiculously nice (A+ is a 95, A is a 90, A- is a 85, etc). Also go to office hours because just talking to him about Economics like graduate work and possible careers was super helpful; use him as a resource.

Do not take this class! The material can be confusing if you've never take intermediate micro. This class was the most boring class I've ever taken at UVA.

Ed was a decent professor- very knowledgable on the subject- but I know he's retiring. The class employed very similar concepts to Intermediate Micro, so if you did well in that course, I recommend taking this one. There's no textbook for the class, just a bunch of selected readings. Do the practice problems and tests before the graded problem sets and midterms- it will help you a lot. Definitely go to class cuz that's where the jest of the learning comes from, and so the workload outside of class isn't bad at all. I wouldn't say it's a particular easy A, but in my opinion, no ECON class is. So if you're interested in the subject, give the class a shot. Pulling out a B is definitely doable, and Olsen makes himself readily available if you have questions or need some extra support.