The authors of this article describe three student-driven learning modules developed from their respective College Fed Challenge courses. These activities are ready-to-apply in a wide range of courses to facilitate adoption without a large time commitment. In the "Pick a Policy Maker" module, students gain an understanding of the…

Many empirical economists say that the teaching of econometrics is unbalanced, and students are not well-prepared for the serious problems they will encounter with real data. Here, the author considers the problem of noisy data, which is present in most econometric studies, but receives far too little attention. Most econometric studies are done…

Visually-impaired students require tailored pedagogies to ensure their instruction is as high quality as for sighted students. They follow board work during class by referring to typed class notes provided ahead of time via a Braille reader, and in-class small groups solving problems create an inclusive "esprit de corps" and promote…

Issues arising in the music industry in response to the availability of digital music files provide an opportunity for exposing undergraduate students to economic analyses rarely covered in the undergraduate economics curriculum. Three of these analyses are covered here: the optimal copyright term, the effect of piracy or illegal file sharing, and…

Over the course of one semester, six empirical assignments that utilize FRED are used to introduce students of money and banking courses to the economic analysis required for the conduct of monetary policy. The first five assignments cover the following topics: inflation, bonds and stocks, monetary aggregates, the Taylor rule, and employment.…

This exercise helps instructors teach students how to perform a simple event study. The study tests to see if stocks earn abnormal returns when added to the S&P 500. Students select a random sample of stocks that were added to the index between January 2000 and July 2015. The accompanying spreadsheet calculates cumulative abnormal returns and…

Economics faculty expect that students have an integrated understanding of economic theory upon graduation and that they grasp and appreciate how all elements of markets naturally move to equilibrium. Through assessment activities, the authors discovered that their students were not developing that knowledge, so they turned to learning theory to…

The author develops a simple geometric analysis of Cournot-Nash equilibrium in the price-quantity space by exploiting the economic content of the first-order condition. The approach makes it clear that strategic interdependency in oligopoly originates from externalities among producers. This explains why cartels are unstable and casts oligopoly…

The authors use a relatively simple diagram accompanied by mathematical analysis to compare two pricing strategies: price-quantity packages and a two-part tariff. This is done both from the monopolist's point of view and from the welfare point of view. The authors show that in the case of two consumer types, the price-quantity packages strategy…

The author presents a geometrical framework in which the inability of discretionary policy (consistent policy in the sense of Kydland and Prescott) to be socially optimal is demonstrated. Policy based on a rule results in a higher level of utility. The author extends the model to demonstrate that policy of a Rogoff conservative central banker…

Authors of principles and price theory textbooks generally illustrate short-run production using a total product curve that displays first increasing and then diminishing marginal returns to employment of the variable input(s). Although it seems reasonable that a temporary range of increasing returns to variable inputs will likely occur as…

The authors review the graphical approach to teaching the real business cycle model introduced in Barro. They then look at where this approach cuts corners and suggest refinements. Finally, they compare graphical and exact models by means of impulse-response functions. The graphical models yield reliable qualitative results. Sizable quantitative…

Outlines the differences between the traditional and modern theoretical models of demand for money. States that the two models are often used interchangeably in textbooks, causing ambiguity. Argues against the use of linear specifications that imply that income velocity can increase without limit and that autonomous components of aggregate demand…

Observes that competition is one of the most important concepts in economics, and that students typically learn a great deal about static competition but very little about dynamic competition. Presents a graphical method for illustrating and contrasting both views of competition. Notes other economic concepts that can be similarly illustrated.…

Most people learn to drive without knowing how the engine works. In a similar vein, the author believes that students can learn economics without knowing the algebra and calculus underlying the results. If instructors follow the philosophy of other economics courses in using graphs to illustrate the results, and draw the graphs accurately, then…