Understanding how to make the world a better place requires interdisciplinary knowledge. Public policy analysis helps policymakers arrive at informed policy decisions. The policy analysis process involves public problem definition and data collection, stakeholder identification, a rationale for government involvement, evaluation criteria,…

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the status quo across higher education, including in the domain of pedagogy. The author of this article provides a case study of the changes made to one course, "Behavioral Economics," at Swarthmore College, in response to a set of unique, pandemic-related challenges. He begins by providing details on…

Contemporary pedagogy encourages instructors to move away from memorization to teaching the ability to "do economics." In such an environment, students are taught to apply knowledge of economic measurement, the economic model, and economic policy to analyze current events and policies. In this article, the authors build on existing…

The authors describe a Wikipedia-based project designed for a graduate course introducing health economics to experienced healthcare professionals. The project allows such students to successfully write articles on niche topics in rapidly evolving health economics subspecialties. These students are given the opportunity to publish their completed…

The authors describe their experience with integrating a semester-long economic analysis project into an intermediate macroeconomic theory course. Students work in teams of "economic advisors" to write a series of nested reports that analyze the current state of the economy, and propose and evaluate policies for a decision-maker. The…

Asserts that international economics textbooks pay too little attention to the complexity of issues and problems facing individual nations. Describes a country report project included as part of a college-level international or development economics course. Provides two student instruction sheets and a sample country report. (CFR)

Argues that knowledge of statistics is becoming increasingly important for economics students. Presents a lesson to improve the learning of statistics and communication skills using short cases that include an economics problem and real data. Describes how students work in teams with computers for analysis and preparation of written reports. (DSK)

Defines groupware and sets up a theoretical justification for its use in teaching. Using the groupware application Forum, shows how groupware can enable electronic discussion that captures the best features of both in-class discussion (dynamic interaction and cooperative learning) and writing assignments (thoughtful insights backed by careful…

Contends that teachers can incorporate data collection and writing activities into economics classes to stimulate and enrich classroom experiences. Describes three types of assignments involving data collection and written reports designed for microeconomics courses. Includes five figures that exemplify the assignments. (CFR)

Describes an exercise, step-by-step, for developing critical thinking while exposing students to electronic-data skills. Argues that the exercise enhances critical thinking by forcing students to deal with issues of data definition, collection, and interpretation, and by providing an active learning experience with real-world data. (DSK)