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.