Ricardo Reis

I took this class with Ricardo last term and wanted to give him some love since it seems like a lot of it is going to Xavier! I learned a lot in this class without too much stress, and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a more broad introduction to macroeconomics than what Xavier does. Ricardo organizes his lectures into weeks of different topics (13 weeks total) covering unemployment, inflation, growth theory, fiscal policy, monetary policy, and more, and the models behind each of them. You don't need to know a lot of math for this class at all, though sometimes it helps in understanding the models. Ricardo's lectures slides are very useful - definitely print them out and take notes on them in class (or do it on a computer). Sometimes I didn't fully understand what he was saying during class, but when I did the problem sets and reviewed the notes everything cleared up. At times he may seem like he's going too quickly (probably because he's just so brilliant) but I just wrote everything down and reviewed it one more time and it usually clicked. Recitations weren't super useful - I was planning on going to most of them but then ended up not going to many because of conflicts or sheer laziness, and found that Ricardo's notes are enough. But when I did go, they cleared things up and I think it's a great way to catch up if you're behind in class (shoutout to the aweso…

Having hated my macroeconomics class in high school, I had some apprehensions about jumping into Reis' class my first fall semester. Reis completely invalidated my fears. He's engaging and doesn't kill his students with work. Some complain about the strong math focus, and he certainly does use a lot of calculus in his lessons, but I personally liked that perspective. I found that it made the material a lot easier to understand. Even if you left the course with a very abstract view of the unit, the homework clarified its application. The midterm came directly from the homework questions, so if you make sure you understand each assignment, you'll do well on the midterm. That being said, at times Reis' explanations weren't all that clear. The TA's were great at filling up the gaps in his lectures. Seriously I wouldn't have understood a lot of things if it weren't for them. Reis also provides math notes, lecture notes, external textbook readings and suggested articles. He gives you so many resources so it's really hard to not do well (in my opinion). I know people in Xavier's who liked him. I sat in on a lecture, and he's definitely a great lecturer, but from what I hear he only covers growth. Take Reis; he gives you a super comprehensive view of macro, which I personally valued more.

Reis is awesome! He's very fun, dynamic, and he's a great professor. His slides are really great, and his lectures definitely add detail and specifics. Definitely go to his classes. He has a great sense of humor. My only complaint is that sometimes, his slides had errors or were slightly confusing (the TAs confirmed this). Travis was a fantastic TA. Definitely go to his office hours. By the end of the semester there was a crew people who religiously went every week because he was so helpful.

All through last semester, I questioned whether I had made the right decision taking Ricardo's intermediate macro course over Xavier's, and I am still unsure whether I made the right decision. Given the chance to do it over, though, I'd most definitely choose Xavier's class over Ricardo's, and so I am hesitant to recommend Ricardo's class. To me, at least, that decision would depend on who else is teaching the course for that semester -- I chose Ricardo's class over Xavier's because I thought I would do better and learn more in a smaller class with a textbook and a more guided syllabus, but I should have heeded the reviews that Ricardo's class would be harder and more mathy. Ultimately, the class left me unfulfilled, and I think the amount of time and effort I put in (with less than anticipated return) could have been better spent elsewhere. Ricardo is a brilliant person -- plus, he's charming and kind, and he's never made me feel patronized or stupid. The problem is, he's almost too brilliant. He was great at explaining concepts in lecture, but every time he started doing math on the board, deriving formulas, pulling variables out of nowhere, I was just lost. Even worse, he always seemed to be skipping steps in his powerpoints and in lectures. So, I felt like I got a lot out of the more conceptual parts of the class, such as unemployment, but I had a hard time with more math-…

Reis is the Gulati of Macroeconomics, and by that I mean that he is the harder option. He's a brilliant guy (omg his bio is ridiculous), but more like a 7/10 when it comes to teaching. Some issues I had that I felt a lot of people also had: --He takes all of his exam questions directly from his slides, but his slides (which he puts on courseworks) can be really difficult to understand. --He really emphasizes the math in macro, much more so than Xavier's class did I think. In class though he would rush through the mathematical concepts. That said, he does provide really good, extremely detailed math notes for everything. Actually they're shockingly good considering the lecture slides. Even with the notes though, it's pretty important to go to recitation to make sure you understand the math behind everything and how it could be applied in an exam question, for instance. So those were my issues. Still, I'm glad I took his class. Reis is a lovable professor. He's just plain adorable. Every class without fail he would get a chalk line across without fail and, also without fail, would have no idea. Also, his TAs are AMAZING. Really really really great. I cannot emphasize that enough. I think the reviews below mine are about other TAs. He must've realized his previous TAs sucked because Travis, Hyun, and Nicolas were fantastic--really helpful in recitation, and would reply almost imm…

Reis is a fantastic professor. I've heard about the atrocities students have lived through with other professors who teach Intermediate Macro, and Reis is the light that shines in the dark. Â First of all he's a young, energetic, active researcher; a contrast to most of the old mummies who emerge from the crypt that we call the economics department. He seems to truly love teaching.. undergrads no less! It should be said that it is very easy to get lost during the lectures as Reis covers a lot of material (we covered the whole book, save two chapters). Â But he did a great job connecting the Greek symbols to reality. His analogies were pure gold as he is really funny in a natural way. He is not a clown up there trying to make economics sound cool with nonsense like "ok here's one you college students can relate to: what's the opportunity cost of smoking a bowl instead of doing your problem set tonight?" No, Reis's analogies are genuinely creative and helpful. As has been stated, the problem sets can be tricky and they take some thought, but they are short. Â I'd say of the 10 problem sets, maybe half were pretty easy to moderate and the other half were difficult. Â And although technically we were only supposed to have 5 days to turn them in, about half the time Reis gave us an extension for one reason or another. A lot of previous reviewers hated the TAs but I thought they did…

Professor Reis is an excellent professor. His class may not be as popular as Xavier's, but it was a fun class and I learned a lot. He is great at explaining things and also very funny. Ricardo's lectures always begin with interesting, challenging questions that will be answered within the lecture. He is very math-oriented and likes to use equations rather than graphs, so be sure to try and make sure you understand what he is doing either in class (which may be hard since he does things so quickly) or after class. The weekly problem sets (20% of your grade) are usually pretty challenging, and the grading is a bit harsh on them (they are graded out of 4, and if you make one mistake, you're going to get a 3.5). However, the recitation section is usually a good resource to use if you're confused on the homework. There is one midterm, which consists of 5 MC questions, 2 short-response, and 1 essay, which is worth 30% of your grade. The final is double the midterm and is worth 50% of your grade. They are challenging (the average on my midterm was around 60/100), but fair. There are no surprises on his tests. In terms of preparing for exams, I would definitely say his lecture slides are better to study from than the textbook. But, the textbook can help clarify anything you're not clear about. I would definitely recommend Professor Reis's class to anybody interested in economics who's…

The class was really interesting, and I learned a lot. Reis focuses not only on the generally theory, but supports his claims with evidence, and discussed the current economic crisis as well as the great depression. The focus on the mathematics, however, can be quite disorienting. Often Reis will manipulate 5 or six expressions at once, and seemingly magically come up with the final equations. He blazes though his slides quickly, which makes gaining a deep understanding of the material tough, but doable if you look over his slides afterward. Exams combine knowledge of the equations with understanding of the material, and are tough but reasonably curved.

This course was torture to sit through. Reis would go through a million powerpoint slides at lightning speed while only rarely stopping to explain the mathematics. Macro isn't particularly difficult if you learn from textbooks, but with Reis, everything is much harder than it should be. That said, if you're a math whiz, type quickly, and fast on the uptake, you have a shot of doing pretty well. The curve on the midterm was okay but it was pretty bad on the final. His exams are model and formula intensive. Also, knowing anything on a basic level won't save you: you need to know the special cases well. Honestly, I'd never take a class with him again and regret taking this one. It was dull, I learned little (except from the very non-math intensive Mankiw book), found his slides confusing, and his problem sets difficult. Just say no to Reis and go for whomever else is teaching that semester.

Reis is a very fun and engaging professor. He definitely knows his stuff, but the way he explains the material has at many times left the class more than slightly confused, except for the few econ geniuses. It also doesn't help that the room was ridiculously hot and easy to fall asleep to. He has the tendency to talk very fast and go very in depth in the mathematical side of macro so make sure you know the material somewhat before going to his class. I would suggest that you go to his classes and write down every equation he puts on the board because sometimes those show up on problem sets (and midterm). He did write up all the math notes used in the class -- which was very helpful. His lecture notes are not particularly clear and deviate a lot from the textbook, but it is still very important to read every chapter assigned in the text. As a result, if you skip lectures and just rely on the textbook, you will find that the problem set (which is divided 50/50 between textbook problems and obscure math heavy ones that are based more on his class lecture) are obscure and seemed to be jumping out of nowhere. Overall, class was good. A lot more math oriented than had expected for a macro class. His midterm was very fair as was his final (which was just midterm x 2 in length). The midterm had a mean (and curved) to B, probably the same for the final.