Social Econ Blog

At the heart of any microeconomic analysis are the objectives and constraints faced by the relevant agent. In order to help you better understand my decisions throughout the course (and to reiterate the value of an economic framework for understanding decisions), I will frequently pull back the curtain and let you peek into my mind by outlining what I believe the relevent objectives, constraints, andtradeoffs are in the given situation.

In that vein, let me start off this blog by outlining the objectives that will largely shape the choices I make throughout the course.

1) Develop intuitive economic framework that students can (and will) employ to more deeply understand questions and issues throughout life.
2) Provide and develop empirical skills that will prepare students for their remaining undergraduate work and for life in general. I hope to cultivate the intuitive and technical skills necessary to provide good empirical description of topics and the to test causal hypotheses.
3) Improve students ability to express thoughts and arguments verbally (via both the spoken and written word).
4) Facilitate the creation of functioning social relationships among all members of the tutorial (including myself).
5) Respect the process – do not care only about ends, but also the means. I want to class to be challenging, fair, and fun. I think that it is important to create an experience that people remember fondly.
6) Provide deeper understanding of social interactions and economics -- what are the relevant questions and currently known answers in this area.