Team-based learning is a powerful collaborative learning technique that can be used effectively in a principles of economics course, although its implementation can be costly for instructors and students alike. The author suggests a series of strategies that can result in a much smoother transition to a fully collaborative classroom. The author…

The derivation of conditions necessary for Pareto efficient production and exchange is a lesson frequently showcased in microeconomic theory textbooks. Traditional delivery of this lesson is, however, limited in its scope of application and can be unnecessarily convoluted. The author shows that the universe of application is greatly expanded and a…

The authors describe how the Monty Hall Dilemma, a well-known choice anomaly, can be demonstrated with a simple and versatile classroom experiment. In addition to demonstrating the anomaly, the experiment can be used to introduce students to some institutional modifications that have been shown to ameliorate it. This experiment, which can be…

There are many aspects of the "economics of education" that would make excellent examples for introductory economics students. The author presents two topics that are central to the economics of education and to human capital theory: the economic benefit (or "returns") to schooling and educational attainment as an investment.…

One of the key advantages of attending a small liberal arts college is the opportunity to engage in research; at research universities, these opportunities are often given to graduate students. Further, smaller class sizes make it possible to personalize instruction to showcase how the tools students learn in their courses are used to answer…

In this article, the author discusses how graphical simulation models created using STELLA software can be used to present natural resource systems in an intuitive way in undergraduate natural resource economics classes based on his experiences at a leading research university, a state university, and a leading liberal arts college in the United…

In this classroom experiment, students see how low bank equity requirements can interact with deposit insurance to encourage excessive risk-taking. The experiment fills a niche Admati and Hellwig (2013) have noted: citizens in a democracy must understand why bank owners argue for low equity requirements and why society as a whole is better off…

This article describes an innovative pedagogical technique, applicable to most economics courses, that offers students a deeper understanding of market equilibrium, inflation, real and nominal interest rates, intertemporal choice, and financial markets. Students earn extra credit, pooled together for the entire class, by correctly answering…

Survey results from a national sample of economics instructors describe the grading policies and practices in principles of economics courses. The survey results provide insights about absolute and relative grading systems used by instructors, the course components and their weights that determine grades, and the type of assessment items used for…

Social media is one of the most current and dynamic developments in education. In general, the field of economics has lagged behind other disciplines in incorporating technologies in the classroom. In this article, the authors provide a guide for economics educators on how to incorporate Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook inside and outside of the…

This article comes in three parts. Part 1 reviews a few pertinent facts about the stunning economic events that have occurred in the United States (and elsewhere) since 2007. The author chose these particular facts from among many for their relevance to the rest of the article. The next two parts take up, first, some of the key lessons that…

In this article, the authors are the first to describe the core economics curriculum requirements for economics majors at all American colleges and universities, as opposed to a sample of institutions. Not surprisingly, principles of economics is nearly universally required and implemented as a two-semester course in 85 percent of economics major…

For many years, surveys have shown that lecture is the dominant method for teaching principles of economics (Watts and Schaur 2011; Watts and Becker 2008; Becker and Watts 1996, 2001a, b). The authors confirm this and augment it by asking why principles instructors teach the way they do. The respondents, 340 principles instructors at the 2012…

Adam Smith's moral philosophy can be used to introduce economics students to the important idea of transactions costs. The author provides a brief background in this article to Smith's moral philosophy and connects it to the costs of transacting in a way that fits easily into the standard principles of microeconomics classroom. By doing…

Based on results from a 1999 national survey, William Becker and Michael Watts found that student evaluations of teaching were by far the most widely used, and often the only method used by economics departments, to evaluate teaching in undergraduate economics courses. To investigate whether departments of economics have moved beyond the use of…