The COVID-19 pandemic uniquely affected nearly all the subject matter in a typical principles of macroeconomics class. Fluctuations in the basic macroeconomic data in the COVID era were staggering and offer new teaching opportunities. In addition, because the recession was primarily driven by supply side shocks, the entire episode offers a unique…

Based on an extensive survey of the members of the American Economic Association, the authors of this article compare consensus among economists on several economic propositions over four decades. The main result is an increased consensus on many economic propositions, specifically the appropriate role of fiscal policy in macroeconomics and income…

Despite recent clarifications by central banks that it is indeed "commercial banks" that are the main creators of the money supply, money creation processes remain as confusing and opaque as ever to many. This article develops a simplified macro-visual diagram of today's money system based on the increasingly accepted "credit…

The author of this article demonstrates how the unified approach to answering economic questions employed in modern quantitative macroeconomics research can be taught to undergraduate students using the Solow model. Through an application to post-WWII Japan, students get hands-on experience with (1) documenting empirical facts, (2) developing a…

Misconceptions hinder optimal student learning. They need to be addressed explicitly and formally to achieve effective teaching of economics. The author of this article outlines an activity that is designed to address misconceptions about "others" using a backward course design framework. Fink's significant learning categories,…

In this paper, I first provide additional evidence of the prevalence and severity of the problem of student grade overconfidence. I do so by documenting the level of overconfidence that exists in an introductory macroeconomics course. In this course, 75% of the 614 students earned a grade that was below what they expected. I also find that…

This dissertation contains three chapters related to the study of how business cycles create real and persistent effects on economic agents. Chapter 1 focuses on young individuals' careers and college decisions; Chapter 2 on firms' firing and hiring asymmetric decisions and Chapter 3 on firms' sourcing strategies. In Chapter 1 "Strategic or…

This essay presents the creation process for an online honors course in the field of business. Highlighting engagement, critical thinking, and inclusivity as central themes, the author describes the course's inception, structure, outcomes, and post-teaching reflection. The pedagogical framework includes integrative current event assignments and…

This article will explain how a series of educator strikes in 2022 in Ghana led to increased awareness of and calls for tax justice and debt relief from a growing movement of public sector workers and civil society organisations. We chart how the issues and demands of teacher organisations and other public sector workers shifted and increased over…

Flipped classroom has been found to positively influence student achievement but the magnitude of the effect varies greatly according to discipline and local design, and few studies have been methodologically rigorous enough to establish causal evidence. Using a randomized controlled trial, this study addresses a gap in current knowledge by…

Perceived failure in academic performance can lead to differing outcomes for students. Depending on the coping strategies that they choose, students may improve or worsen their performance. This study examined the relationship between affective components and coping strategies in college students' responses to perceived academic failure and their…

I present a framework to teach the macroeconomic effects of COVID-19 using the Keynesian Cross. I show that the rest of the economy suffers from a decline in demand once one sector of the economy is shut down and that the government spending and tax multipliers are smaller than usual. Fully insuring workers in the sector that is shut down cannot…

The author of this article discusses a cooperative learning exercise designed for introductory macroeconomics that was completed by 44 groups of three or four students during the spring 2021, fall 2021, and spring 2022 semesters at a private U.S. liberal arts college. The exercise aims to foster an active learning community where students…

This article develops a model of education from Murray Bookchin's social ecology by demonstrating how "the economy," specifically growth and employment, intervenes between the environment and education, impeding the goal of environmental education. By reformulating Bookchin's central claim in terms of power, rather than domination, the…

The author of this article provides an example of how one might incorporate behavioral economics into teaching macroeconomics or labor economics at an undergraduate level. The focus is on two macroeconomic concepts--wage determination and the Phillips curve--and shows that the implications and conclusions of both models differ from their textbook…