The author provides a general model to incentivize student involvement in an economics course on an ongoing basis. Rather than presenting students with a discrete number of diverse experiments to illustrate different economic concepts, he opts for the adoption of a single experiment that lives for the duration of the semester. This approach…

Describes an attempt to analyze and improve the connection between intermediate microeconomic theory courses and applied theory courses. Examines the data collection, policy analysis, program design, and materials production stages of this process. Includes a table of most-valued microeconomic skills compared with allocation of time to teach those…

Presents the results of a survey of the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business on the role of economics courses in MBA programs. Discovers a slight five-year decline in the number of economics courses. Discusses the relationship between economic course work and the focus of an MBA program. (MJP)

Reports on the transformation of higher economic education in Bulgaria as part of the overall change in the society of that country. Describes the slow, painful process of shifting from a command economy to a free market-oriented system. Conservatism and fragmentation have hindered academic reform. (MJP)

Describes the creation and implementation of voluntary standards and benchmarks for the teaching and learning of economics at the precollege level. The standards, established by the National Council on Economic Education in 1997, outline fundamental economic concepts to be taught at each grade level. Includes copies of the standards. (MJP)

Analyzes data collected from 132 liberal arts colleges to determine the motivating factors for the presence of gender-oriented courses. Results suggest that highly ranked, nonreligiously affiliated schools are most likely to support these courses. Many also are found in larger economics departments with a high percentage of women students. (MJP)

Identifies six significant themes for teaching intermediate macroeconomics at the college level. Included are the need for a unifying approach, adaptability of course content, emphasis on formalism, coordination within the economics curriculum, stimulation of student learning, and needs for assessment. Discusses additional options for…

Traces the development of macroeconomic theory from John Maynard Keynes to modern endogenous growth theory. Maintains that a combination of interest in growth theory and related policy questions will play a prominent role in macroeconomics in the future. Recommends narrowing the gap between graduate school and undergraduate economics instruction.…

Identifies four microeconomic concepts students should learn before entering the study of intermediate macroeconomics. Included are relative prices, general versus partial equilibrium, constrained optimization, and the nature of production concepts. Recommends making intermediate microeconomics a prerequisite for intermediate macroeconomics. (MJP)

Recommends teaching intermediate macroeconomics as a two-part sequence, with the first component based on a benchmark model that reflects accepted theory and applications to policy. Maintains that current intermediate economics courses cover too much material. Argues for spreading this material over several elective courses. (MJP)

Articulates some of the primary benefits derived from using specific cases to teach macroeconomics. Cases contain information, not only diverse and interesting, but relevant to the business environment where many graduates will be working. Specifically, they convey information about qualitative trade-offs and complex environments. (MJP)

Argues that incorporating research into teaching intermediate macroeconomics can present challenging material to students thereby increasing their critical and evaluative thinking. Recommends sacrificing advanced textbook topics, historical perspectives on theories and policies, and current debates in favor of theoretical insights and empirical…

Criticizes the beginning of period version of the IS-LM model found in most textbooks. Argues that this model fails to capture the effects of the issuance of financial assets to finance current investment spending by firms and current deficit spending by the government. Recommends an end-of- period model. (MJP)

Presents a framework for including the optimal level of national saving and its disposition between investment in the domestic capital stock and the accumulation of overseas assets, in intermediate macroeconomics teaching. Uses the IS-LM model to enhance students' comprehension of the issues involved in the optimal level of saving. (MJP)

Questions previous studies which found that students of economics in two-year colleges learned less than students in four-year schools because of inadequate instruction. Offers alternative hypotheses for performance differences, including inadequate sampling in earlier studies, possible bias of measuring instruments, and different objectives of…