Economics is an interesting topic and should be treated as such. Unfortunately, while the topics covered in the class are interesting and lend to a greater appreciation of economic concepts, they lack substance and rigor. Many course topics feel uninspired and are, in some cases, made more difficult by the obsession with avoiding calculus as if it were a plague. Rates of change are not discussed properly, and extreme lengths are taken to ensure that every function you see is linear. Overall, the course is fine, but there are clear problems that will likely not be addressed due to the course being a requirement for certain majors that do not take calculus.

Prof. Knox is okay, but teaches straight from the textbook and often acts like a high school teacher.

This was the first time I learned any economics and I thought the subject was interesting. The economics analysis essays took me a lot of time and frustrated me. I went line by line translating my news article's information to microeconomics analysis (course content). I went to office hours, and consulted OWRC tutors. Both essays took me a while. However, I felt I not only learned a lot, but also helped myself retain information through the process of writing the essays. I maybe could have used a better method of writing them though. (I mention the essays because Professor Jacobs assigns these for both ECON 200 and ECON 201.) Workload wise, I am not sure about the actual workload because I have some time management troubles. I turned in multiple late assignments for the other classes I...read more

Usefulness: I understand why this is taught because it helps you to understand the theory of how businesses, markets, and economies (more later on in macroeconomics) work.

I would recommend to read before the lecture. I only once went to the lecture without reading the textbook and found it hard to understand.

Vinod is a great instructor! He really cares about his students and gives good feedback on homeworks! He is also very accessible outside of classroom.

Whenever you have questions during a lecture, raise your hand and ask. He takes participation as part of the grade so you will be benefited as well. Definitly go to his office hour!

Fine class, the material is tangible and sometimes interesting but less applicable than macro. The challenge is getting ahead of the curve here; doing well is manageable but getting above the 2.9-3.1 mark requires extra effort.

Do all the practice problems you can, and attend office hours to get specific help on questions you have!

Teacher was not great at lectures and was difficult to understand. Content and tests were extremely easy. I'm not an econ major so I didn't find the content interesting at all.

Overall it's an ok class to take. The material is not boring and an A is doable provided you put in the effort. The midterms can be a bit difficult since it’s so dense in so little time but somewhat doable. There’s a lot of readings too but that goes for most classes at UW tbh.