Teaching Economics

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

   PDF

2. The Development of Interactive Classroom Activities to Teach Economic Freedom to Students of Various Learning Styles

   • Signè Thomas

   Pages 1-7

3. Video Games in Teaching Economics

   • David Youngberg

   Pages 9-31

4. One-Shot Game: A Free-Market Approach to the Principles of Microeconomics Class

   • Ninos P. Malek

   Pages 33-43

5. A Highly Simplified Pollution Abatement Game

   • Nimish Adhia

   Pages 45-51

6. Assignments to Engage Students in Economics Study Abroad Programs

   • Darshak Patel

   Pages 53-62

7. The Economic Principles of My Cancer Treatment: How to Use Medical Experiences to Teach Economics

   • Joab Corey

   Pages 63-73

8. Textbook Confessions: Government Policies and Market Outcomes

   • Hugo Eyzaguirre, Tawni Hunt Ferrarini, Brian O’Roark

   Pages 75-87

9. University and High School Economics Educators Partnership: A Model from La Crosse, Wisconsin

   • Adam Hoffer, Andrew Beckstrom

   Pages 89-96

10. A Classroom Experiment: The Redistribution of Quiz Scores

    • Gordon Smith

    Pages 97-103

11. Making Economics Stick with Econ Beats

    • Abdullah Al-Bahrani, Leith Thompson

    Pages 105-114

12. Navigating the Economics Major: The Effect of Gender on Students’ Degree Pathways

    • Laura J. Ahlstrom, Carlos J. Asarta

    Pages 115-136

13. Taking a Path Less Traveled: Mastering ‘Metrics Without a Textbook

    • Alice Louise Kassens

    Pages 137-153

14. Structured Writing Assignments in an American Economic History Course

    • Judge Glock, Joshua Hall, Marcus M. Witcher

    Pages 155-161

15. Integrating the Economic Way of Thinking into US History Courses

    • M. Scott Niederjohn, Colin O’Reilly

    Pages 163-182

This book looks at a number of topics in economic education, presenting multiple perspectives from those in the field to anyone interested in teaching economics. Using anecdotes, classroom experiments and surveys, the contributing authors show that, with some different or new techniques, teaching economics can be more engaging for students and help them better retain what they learned. Chapters cover a wide range of approaches to teaching economics, from interactive approaches such as utilizing video games and Econ Beats, to more rigorous examinations of government policies, market outcomes and exploring case studies from specific courses. Many of the chapters incorporate game theory and provide worked out examples of games designed to help students with intuitive retention of the material, and these games can be replicated in any economics classroom. While the exercises are geared towards college-level economics students, instructors can draw inspiration for course lectures from the various approaches taken here and utilize them at any level of teaching. This book will be very useful to instructors in economics interested in bringing innovative teaching methods into the classroom.

• economics education
• teaching
• economic principles
• higher education
• free-market economics
• interactive studies
• economics curricula
• learning and instruction

• College of Business and Economics, West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA

  Joshua Hall, Kerianne Lawson

Joshua C. Hall is an professor of economics, department chair, and director of the Center for Free Enterprise in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University. He earned his bachelor and master degrees in economics from Ohio University and his Ph.D. from West Virginia University in 2007. Prior to returning to his alma mater, he was the Elbert H. Neese, Jr. Professor of Economics at Beloit College and an Economist with the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress. Hall is a past President of the Association of Private Enterprise Education. In addition to being a co-author on the widely-cited Economic Freedom of the World annual report, he is author of over 100 academic journal articles, including over a dozen in economic education. 

Kerianne Lawson is a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in economics at West Virginia University and has a graduate assistantship with the Center for Free Enterprise. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Southern Methodist University in 2017. While at SMU, she worked at the O’Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom, which sparked her love for economics. Her research interests include urban and regional economics, mainly focusing on crime and other consequences of urban disamenities, as well as economic freedom.

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