ECON 130
Public Finance
Description: Lecture, three hours. Requisites: courses 11, 101, 103. Enforced corequisite: course 130L. Role of government in market economy. Alternative justifications for government intervention. Principles and effects of spending programs (especially social insurance and health), taxation, deficit financing, and federal credit programs. Taxation in open economy. Properties of public choice mechanisms. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
I did bad in the class primarily because I had some difficulty staying awake in his 7:30 a.m. lectures, and Galles tends to teach at a relatively fast pace. However, he is a very dynamic speaker, and even with a class that early, I have observed the vast majority of students were wide awake and listened attentatively to his lectures. The things you learn from the public finance course are actually quite profound and interesting. I found Social Security and Medicare to be of great relevance. Study his questions in his course reader for the midterm and final. It certainly helps to read them BEFORE coming to lecture and answer them SOON after he covers it in class. It also helps to have a tape recorder for his class, especially when you start losing track or cannot keep up with what he says. Reading the book can clarify the concepts he covers, but I did not find that alone to be sufficient in preparation for his exams. My advice is to take really good notes in lecture and have a tape recorder as some sort of back-up.
I did bad in the class primarily because I had some difficulty staying awake in his 7:30 a.m. lectures, and Galles tends to teach at a relatively fast pace. However, he is a very dynamic speaker, and even with a class that early, I have observed the vast majority of students were wide awake and listened attentatively to his lectures. The things you learn from the public finance course are actually quite profound and interesting. I found Social Security and Medicare to be of great relevance. Study his questions in his course reader for the midterm and final. It certainly helps to read them BEFORE coming to lecture and answer them SOON after he covers it in class. It also helps to have a tape recorder for his class, especially when you start losing track or cannot keep up with what he says. Reading the book can clarify the concepts he covers, but I did not find that alone to be sufficient in preparation for his exams. My advice is to take really good notes in lecture and have a tape recorder as some sort of back-up.
Most Helpful Review
Professor Krop is an awesome professor. He\355s one of the greatest econ professors that I have ever had. He talks about economics in various perspectives, and his lectures can be very interesting at times. Both exams are 50% each. The exams are similar to the previous exams, so study all that, and your lecture notes, and you\355ll be fine. Everyone becomes intrigued when he talks about Social Security. I actually found the class to be very educational. Time well spent.
Professor Krop is an awesome professor. He\355s one of the greatest econ professors that I have ever had. He talks about economics in various perspectives, and his lectures can be very interesting at times. Both exams are 50% each. The exams are similar to the previous exams, so study all that, and your lecture notes, and you\355ll be fine. Everyone becomes intrigued when he talks about Social Security. I actually found the class to be very educational. Time well spent.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - After talking to quite a few people in this class, I think we all could agree that the reviews are a little too generous. Professor Lleras-Muney is such a nice and of course, knowledgeable professor. Her lectures are enjoyable for the most part (although I admit watching them at 2X speed after they were posted), but the biggest issue for this class was simply time. The midterm was very time constraint and there was simply too many questions that required a lot of explanations. Partial credit was generously given, but also taken away too easily. She had practice exams posted with the solutions and the solutions themselves were essay long answers. She did clarify that she was not expecting those kind of answers, that it was mostly to be complete, but that's what it felt like for the midterm. She was kind enough to add 9 points to our raw score so at least she saw that the expectations were a little too high. Another major point that is not emphasized enough in the previous reviews are group work. Super time consuming and you absolutely need to have at least one person in the group be comfortable with R, Stata, or whatever coding program you're using. This class is basically like a writing class because every group work assignment requires at least a 3 page memo. Now, this sounds easy, but she posts an outline of what she wants with a bunch of questions and most are very broad so you kinda have to pick and choose. It feels like you need to evaluate which are the most important questions and then supplement it with the correct graphs, etc. Presentations are not too bad, but the data problems and memos are very tedious so make sure your group is on top of things since assignments are due Friday @ 9am. The final..... so because of the midterm, she decided to make the final "take-home" aka she gave the final ahead of time & about a week and two days to do it. It was extremely time consuming and long. Depending on how many people you were working with (max 3), you had to answer at least 2 questions each worth 100 points. One part was a 4 page essay, the second part was a 5 page data report memo, and the third part was mathematical computations (which were not even taught directly in class so you had to figure that out on your own). So, overall, I guess you just had to pick your poison and pick which two (or three if you were 3 people) parts you wanted to do. While it was super long, the scores and final grades were pretty high so it paid off. This class is definitely not a class you can just put in the back of your head since each week you have group work and presentations. The material is interesting which is a plus, and it's very relevant to how the government works and current economic policies. It's a nice change from theoretical classes that rely on models and formulas. This is a great class and you really do learn a lot from it, just be ready to spend a lot of time on busy work and presentations!
Fall 2020 - After talking to quite a few people in this class, I think we all could agree that the reviews are a little too generous. Professor Lleras-Muney is such a nice and of course, knowledgeable professor. Her lectures are enjoyable for the most part (although I admit watching them at 2X speed after they were posted), but the biggest issue for this class was simply time. The midterm was very time constraint and there was simply too many questions that required a lot of explanations. Partial credit was generously given, but also taken away too easily. She had practice exams posted with the solutions and the solutions themselves were essay long answers. She did clarify that she was not expecting those kind of answers, that it was mostly to be complete, but that's what it felt like for the midterm. She was kind enough to add 9 points to our raw score so at least she saw that the expectations were a little too high. Another major point that is not emphasized enough in the previous reviews are group work. Super time consuming and you absolutely need to have at least one person in the group be comfortable with R, Stata, or whatever coding program you're using. This class is basically like a writing class because every group work assignment requires at least a 3 page memo. Now, this sounds easy, but she posts an outline of what she wants with a bunch of questions and most are very broad so you kinda have to pick and choose. It feels like you need to evaluate which are the most important questions and then supplement it with the correct graphs, etc. Presentations are not too bad, but the data problems and memos are very tedious so make sure your group is on top of things since assignments are due Friday @ 9am. The final..... so because of the midterm, she decided to make the final "take-home" aka she gave the final ahead of time & about a week and two days to do it. It was extremely time consuming and long. Depending on how many people you were working with (max 3), you had to answer at least 2 questions each worth 100 points. One part was a 4 page essay, the second part was a 5 page data report memo, and the third part was mathematical computations (which were not even taught directly in class so you had to figure that out on your own). So, overall, I guess you just had to pick your poison and pick which two (or three if you were 3 people) parts you wanted to do. While it was super long, the scores and final grades were pretty high so it paid off. This class is definitely not a class you can just put in the back of your head since each week you have group work and presentations. The material is interesting which is a plus, and it's very relevant to how the government works and current economic policies. It's a nice change from theoretical classes that rely on models and formulas. This is a great class and you really do learn a lot from it, just be ready to spend a lot of time on busy work and presentations!
Most Helpful Review
Best Economics professor I have had by far due to her clear and organized lectures. She is very concerned for students to do well, and while her exams can be tough, they are very fair. No tricks, if you pay attention, keep up with the homework, you will do well. Professor McGarry brings outside topics into the class and broadens our understanding of public finance through issues that matter such as the Kyoto Protocol and Medicare. The format I had during Spring 2003 was two midterms and a final. She also gave 1 point for each extra credit assignment, usuallly easy 1-2 page analysis of economic articles and news clippings. Not a whole lot, but those points can matter in the end.
Best Economics professor I have had by far due to her clear and organized lectures. She is very concerned for students to do well, and while her exams can be tough, they are very fair. No tricks, if you pay attention, keep up with the homework, you will do well. Professor McGarry brings outside topics into the class and broadens our understanding of public finance through issues that matter such as the Kyoto Protocol and Medicare. The format I had during Spring 2003 was two midterms and a final. She also gave 1 point for each extra credit assignment, usuallly easy 1-2 page analysis of economic articles and news clippings. Not a whole lot, but those points can matter in the end.
Most Helpful Review
I really enjoyed Prof. McGuire's Econ 130 class. I found the material very interesting, and it one of the better econ classes I've taken. The tests are a bit challenging and require that you keep up with lecture topics and go over them enough to understand them. I wouldn't say that the course was dictated by the book. I didn't read every single chapter assigned, but I did have to go to the book for more information on a lot of topics. This is mainly because the professor just covered SO much material. A lot of people complained that there were too many chapters to read, but again, I didn't find it necessary to read all of every single chapter. There were only a few homework sets, and they are important for the tests. I would have to say though that her course would be best taught over a semester rather than a quarter because there was just a lot of material. However, she makes the material interesting and easier to learn, so I highly recommend her class, but don't expect a really easy A without keeping up and knowing the stuff!
I really enjoyed Prof. McGuire's Econ 130 class. I found the material very interesting, and it one of the better econ classes I've taken. The tests are a bit challenging and require that you keep up with lecture topics and go over them enough to understand them. I wouldn't say that the course was dictated by the book. I didn't read every single chapter assigned, but I did have to go to the book for more information on a lot of topics. This is mainly because the professor just covered SO much material. A lot of people complained that there were too many chapters to read, but again, I didn't find it necessary to read all of every single chapter. There were only a few homework sets, and they are important for the tests. I would have to say though that her course would be best taught over a semester rather than a quarter because there was just a lot of material. However, she makes the material interesting and easier to learn, so I highly recommend her class, but don't expect a really easy A without keeping up and knowing the stuff!
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