ECON BC3035

I really don't like econ lol. Not much but if you want to do econ, you gotta do it.

Lighter than other courses. Essentially, if you know calculus and are able to make basic applications of it with appropriate assumptions about different models, you will find the course a simple applied calculus course. But if one is not good with math, one would likely struggle. 45% Final, 30% Midterm, 20% HW, 5% Quiz. He promised to give a boost for those who did badly in midterm but did decently in final.

Eight time consuming problem sets graded for effort and some command of the material, two fair midterms of average difficulty and one final that's a little bit easier.

I disagree with the reviewer before me. Professor Dean was an engaging lecturer, with occasional British-style jokes. He explained ideas and techniques very well. While the course required some math and proofs, they were basic at most and one could have gotten good grades even without being able to do hard proofs. Apparently, though, Prof Dean is more mathematical than other professors teaching the course, which seems to me to be a good thing though, since economics at higher level is extremely mathematical anyways. His class materials are solely based on his presentation slides and lectures. You are not asked to do textbook readings or things like that. One perk of his class is that because his presentation slides have everything and they are quite well organized, you can actually do well without going to the lectures or recitations (which get uploaded on Canvas anyways). I myself attended the lectures "flexibly," not going to class when I had other works to do and catching up later with slides. I think I ended up attending only 2/3 of the lectures, but still got an A. That being said, Prof. Dean explains well so it's easier and more efficient to understand the ideas by going to class than by reading the slides alone. There were two TAs: Syzmon Sacher and Paul Koh. My impression was that Szymon was very committed to helping students; the latter seemed not so much interested i…

I can't recommend this professor enough. I took intermediate micro with Professor Lofgren and enjoyed it immensely. She's highly knowledgeable and loves the material, breaks up her lecture with real-life examples (and plenty of stories about her kids), and genuinely cares about her students and wants them to succeed. Reading is helpful to supplement lectures and to prepare for a few test questions, but the majority of test questions come from lectures and the eight problem sets. Problem sets are time consuming, but Professor Lofgren gives full credit for effort as long as you get most of it right. Overall, it's an enlightening experience with an expert economist with a sense of humor.

Weekly problem set (25%), in-class quiz (5%), mid-term (25%), final (45%) ---- there was a sizable percentage of the class that did poorly on the midterm so he offered to weight the final more heavily.

Consumer choice, theory of the firm, monopolies, game theory

A disappointing class. Overall, he's pretty tough despite the easy-going air with which he carries himself. So be forewarned about the following: he says from the start that the course is "self-contained". This means that all you need is offered during lecture and via his courseworks notes. That's certainly true if you have the ability to follow his speedy presentation and his bottom-line calculations that omit the steps taken to arrive at his conclusions. Record the lectures and go over the slides later. Also, speaking of math, be ready for proofs during HW and exams (although how you're supposed to know and learn how to write them is beyond me). The math involved at times pretty ugly Algebra, Calc I, and partial derivatives and the Lagrange multiplier from Calc III. Although there is a syllabus, it's pointless, since he does not release any notes ahead of time. There are two recommended texts but again, good luck reading ahead since he doesn't tell you what chapters to read until the relevant lecture - so you'll be playing catch-up the entire semester. Another small grievance is that his slides and problem sets are full of typos and errors; a frustrating lack of attention to detail. The TA's were the usual mixed bag - try to find the PhD students and stick with them.

I learned about the calculus based approach to microeconomics.

Consumer Choice, Theory of the Firm, Monopolies