Econ 55: What is it good for?

This semester marks an unprecedented effort by the economics department to improve itself and its ability to teach undergraduates. Three major initiatives have been set in motion: the elimination of the Bachelor of Arts major, the addition of four different concentrations within the field and the initiative to hire a large number of faculty in the coming year.

These changes aim to add rigor and consistency to the department. They are intended to help undergraduate econ majors conduct research and learn about cutting-edge developments in the field. The changes will simultaneously free professors to teach classes, decrease class sizes and allow for more student-faculty interaction. However, there remains a significant problem with the undergraduate major. Economics 55 should be made an optional course for students who know calculus.

As the second course in the economics core sequence, Econ 55 is supposed to serve as the lynchpin for the major. Its objective is to cover the topics of demand, supply, competitive equilibrium, income, substitution effects and uncompensated demand. But the class fails to do these topics justice. It skims over the basics at such a low level that it gives students no real tools in order to solve even basic problems. Almost every assignment associated with this class requires little more than regurgitating a graph that was shown in an earlier lecture. Practically no critical thinking is required.

The enrollment for this class is more than 300 people, yet there are days when fewer than half of them show up. The material seems so pointless and irrelevant that people see no reason to waste their time by going to class. Cutting class is made even easier because the class is just a slow presentation of slides that are already posted online. There are numerous times when my peers and I fell asleep to a slide-only to wake up 15 minutes later looking at the same exact slide. Not that this matters for the tests because with the help of the TAs and practice exams, it is pretty easy to go over and memorize all of the standard templates for questions.

Many smart people who were once interested in economics have been turned away from the subject after taking this class. This class leads students to believe that economics is nothing more than drawing generalized graphs of supply and demand functions. The knowledge that students gain from the class can be summarized in a few sentences. But the mathematical techniques required to demonstrate that this knowledge is true are not taught until Econ 105.

At its highest levels, the science of economics models itself after physics. Like a true science, it attempts to describe economic phenomena using rigorous mathematical models. This rigorous approach stands in sharp contrast to the material in 55, which seems designed to avoid any hint of mathematical rather than graphical solutions to problems.

Every single introductory physics class at Duke has basic calculus as a prerequisite. It is almost inconceivable to think about and solve problems of velocity and acceleration without the use of derivatives and integrals. But similarly pivotal concepts in economics such as marginal cost and marginal revenue are not discussed as derivatives until Econ 105, the third class in the core sequence.

In general, Econ 105 teaches the same exact material as 55, but it uses mathematics to help students see the reasoning behind the properties of commonly used economic models. Since 105 goes over almost every topic in 55, there is really no point for students who have taken calculus to take 55 at all. Without the 55 requirement, motivated students would have the chance to take more advanced classes such as econometrics and industrial organization as early as their freshman year. This means that by the time they are juniors, they will have enough knowledge to conduct meaningful research and solve real problems.