Economic Analysis I
AI-prohibited problem sets use a novel scoring approach to emphasize learning and preparation for in-person exams.
Course Info:
- ECON 50/50Q: "Economic Analysis 1"
- Spring 2025
- Instructor: Christopher R. Makler
Pedagogy:
AI is prohibited in ECON 50/50Q, one of the most in-demand classes at Stanford. In the following description of the course's problem sets, instructor Chris Makler emphasizes the abilities which the assignments aim to help the students develop and presents the logistics that undergird this type of work. The syllabus "Course Overview" has already primed students to focus on the skills they will be developing: "The reason this course is seen as a prerequisite to so many other courses is not in the content that it teaches, but in the modeling skills it trains you to use."
This framing of the course problem sets motivates students to productively struggle in order to develop their abilities by providing a flexible point system, an abundance of practice problems, and solution sets "to help you understand your mistakes." By foregrounding skill development and designing assignments to match, this course has adapted to an environment where students are tempted by AI and other online shortcuts to learning. Exams in the course are in-person and proctored.
Homework
There will be eight problem sets, due every Tuesday except weeks 1 and 8.
Purpose
Each problem set is meant to reinforce the material from lecture. Staying on track means completing an average of just over 2 exercises per lecture, though more exercises will be provided for extra practice. Doing these exercises is how most of your learning occurs: the questions are often challenging, and are designed to help you deepen your understanding. Problem sets also include old exam questions.
Scoring
The scoring is set up to encourage you to do at least some work every week, and not be too stressed about getting 100% of things correct. Again, the main point of the problem sets is for you to learn the material.
I will give you many problems so that you can practice with them, but you do not need to complete all problems.
Each problem on a problem set is worth 3 points. Think of the scoring as "check-plus (3), check (2), check-minus (1)."
Your grade on the problem set is the number of points you earn, not the percentage you get correct. You may earn a maximum of 16 points per problem set. If you earn more than 16 points, your score is capped at 16; this is to prevent people from trying to "bank" lots of points and then skipping the whole second half of the class.
Full credit is given for 100 total points. Since there are 8 problem sets, this means you need to earn an average of 12.5 points per problem set. It also means you can miss up to two problem sets and still receive nearly full credit. However, note that it's better to not skip problem sets altogether — it's much better to get 5 points than 0!
Getting more than 100 total points does not help your grade; there is no extra credit for additional work done. Obviously, the more practice you get, the better your exam grades will be!
Honor Code
You may work with other students on the problem sets, but you must upload your own work. Furthermore, you may not consult any old solution sets which may exist from past quarters or use AI. (Doing so actively hurts your exam grades!). Uploading or downloading problem sets to web sites such as CourseHero is a violation of the Honor Code.
Stanford University Honor Code and the Fundamental Standard
The Honor Code and Fundamental Standard are integral parts of this course.
Homework solution sets are provided to help you understand your mistakes. Old solution sets should not be used in helping you do your homework. Uploading solution sets to third-party web sites such as CourseHero is a violation of the Honor Code.