ECON 172
Economic Analysis of Laws and Legal Institutions
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Most Helpful Review
I found the subject material of Econ 172 fascinating and Prof. Hirsch to be a very engaging lecturer who asks questions of students in class randomly. This meant we had to do our reading, of course, and he was obviously disappointed during the start of the quarter when we obviously didn't--his face even reddened once. Before our mid-term, he didn't give us an outline or anything at all for us to know what to expect. When asked in class, he simply said the mid-term will "reward those who did their reading." And it basically required you to have done ALL the readings: Define 5 or 10 terms, Answer 2(?) essay questions from the couple offered. The Final was slightly better because he gave us a list of key terms and review essay questions. I think there were 30-40 review questions so we had to know everything in the readings and lectures, anyway. After our disasterous mid-term grades, I'm sure many of us had never studied so hard for a final. In terms of grades, Prof. Hirsch doesn't scale the exam grades. He does the final grades in the course on the old-fashioned bell curve. He told me he doesn't believe in grade inflation and I can admire that on an idealistic plane, but my GPA is still hurting from it. There were a few As and Fs, and most people got Cs. I'm just thankful I was in the middle--how could I survive with a D in my major?
I found the subject material of Econ 172 fascinating and Prof. Hirsch to be a very engaging lecturer who asks questions of students in class randomly. This meant we had to do our reading, of course, and he was obviously disappointed during the start of the quarter when we obviously didn't--his face even reddened once. Before our mid-term, he didn't give us an outline or anything at all for us to know what to expect. When asked in class, he simply said the mid-term will "reward those who did their reading." And it basically required you to have done ALL the readings: Define 5 or 10 terms, Answer 2(?) essay questions from the couple offered. The Final was slightly better because he gave us a list of key terms and review essay questions. I think there were 30-40 review questions so we had to know everything in the readings and lectures, anyway. After our disasterous mid-term grades, I'm sure many of us had never studied so hard for a final. In terms of grades, Prof. Hirsch doesn't scale the exam grades. He does the final grades in the course on the old-fashioned bell curve. He told me he doesn't believe in grade inflation and I can admire that on an idealistic plane, but my GPA is still hurting from it. There were a few As and Fs, and most people got Cs. I'm just thankful I was in the middle--how could I survive with a D in my major?
Most Helpful Review
This class was very weird. I got an A-, but I still don't entirely understand what this course was about! This is mainly because there was a lot of incongruity between what was covered in lecture and what showed up on the exams. In fact, the exams are in essay format, and you just have to apply concepts to different scenarios, and I vaguely remember there being a lot of formulas and derivations in lectures, none of which we needed! In fact, I used things I learned in OTHER Econ classes (like wage theory and labor, microecon concepts, etc.) on the tests. I barely could apply anything from lecture to the exams. So in a way, they did test our knowledge of concepts and theories. I would recommend this class if you have a good understanding of microeconomics, and especially if you took wage theory (econ 150)! That's probably how I got the grade that I got. The book was very verbose and I just couldn't get through the chapters, but it was much more helpful to read the book than go over lecture material. And it helps that exams are open book/notes in case you forgot anything, but it's best to have already gone over it beforehand.
This class was very weird. I got an A-, but I still don't entirely understand what this course was about! This is mainly because there was a lot of incongruity between what was covered in lecture and what showed up on the exams. In fact, the exams are in essay format, and you just have to apply concepts to different scenarios, and I vaguely remember there being a lot of formulas and derivations in lectures, none of which we needed! In fact, I used things I learned in OTHER Econ classes (like wage theory and labor, microecon concepts, etc.) on the tests. I barely could apply anything from lecture to the exams. So in a way, they did test our knowledge of concepts and theories. I would recommend this class if you have a good understanding of microeconomics, and especially if you took wage theory (econ 150)! That's probably how I got the grade that I got. The book was very verbose and I just couldn't get through the chapters, but it was much more helpful to read the book than go over lecture material. And it helps that exams are open book/notes in case you forgot anything, but it's best to have already gone over it beforehand.
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Most Helpful Review
first of all, is it so bad if your professor shows up 5 minutes late? i enjoy coming to econ 172 a few minutes late personally. and besides, thompson is completely unique- totally different than all the other econ profs. in my opinion, he's a really cool dude. i actually remember things he says in lecture and talk about them with my friends and family- i do NOT usually do that. plus, this class is a good one to take if you want to have a chance doing better than all the kids who spend their entire lives studying: you can't get an A on the midterm by reading all the material obssessively. you can get an A by actually paying attention to what he says instead of scribbling every word down. take this class if you want to learn something interesting and valuable. if you let yourself really listen to thompson, you'll do better than everyone else on his tests.
first of all, is it so bad if your professor shows up 5 minutes late? i enjoy coming to econ 172 a few minutes late personally. and besides, thompson is completely unique- totally different than all the other econ profs. in my opinion, he's a really cool dude. i actually remember things he says in lecture and talk about them with my friends and family- i do NOT usually do that. plus, this class is a good one to take if you want to have a chance doing better than all the kids who spend their entire lives studying: you can't get an A on the midterm by reading all the material obssessively. you can get an A by actually paying attention to what he says instead of scribbling every word down. take this class if you want to learn something interesting and valuable. if you let yourself really listen to thompson, you'll do better than everyone else on his tests.
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