ECON 390 Topics in Economic Research and Writing

This course in designed to be for students to study how the economic theory they have learned in other courses applies to the real world. For various topics (chosen by the professor as well as the students) we will (1) learn the mainstream economic theories that give us a hypothesis about how things work, (2) learn what the economic research says actually happens and (3) learn how the mainstream media covers the topic and how it guides public policy and debate. Along the way students will learn the basics of the tools and techniques economists use to test out economic theories, learn how to read academic journal articles, and how to apply theories and research to real world settings.