A-205 Microeconomics: A Policy Tool for Educators
Richard J. Murnane
The primary goal of this course is to teach students how to use microeconomics in analyzing a wide range of educational policy issues. Examples of policy problems are drawn from early childhood education, elementary and secondary education, and post-secondary education in a variety of countries. The course has several secondary goals, including: 1) providing students with an understanding of the results of recent research that bear on important educational policy issues; 2) showing students how to access on the web important data relevant to the economics of education, such as the relationship between educational attainment and earned income; 3) helping students to become skilled at writing brief policy memos. The course will prepare students to take other courses at Harvard that have a microeconomics prerequisite. There are no prerequisites, and the course does not use mathematics beyond high school algebra and geometry. Moreover, the teaching fellows provide a great deal of help and support. However, students should only take this course if they are willing to do the preparation for every class (more on that below). If students feel that they would benefit from the course and are prepared to do all of the work, but are worried that they might not do well on the exams, they are welcome to take the course with a Pass-Fail grade option. Students should not take this course if they have already taken an intermediate level micro-economics course. HGSE students who plan to take A-205 must complete three on-line surveys. One brief survey asking students about their background and contact information must be completed by 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 29. (The instructor needs the results of this survey to make enrollment decisions.) The other two surveys must be completed by 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 1. One survey asks students to rank papers for the group project. (The instructor will use student rankings to form project groups.) The other survey asks about initial answers to a group of educational policy questions. Enrollment is limited to 95 students. Priority is given to students for whom this is a requirement, including those in the International Education Policy (IEP) Program and Urban Superintendents Program (USP). Next, preference is given to doctoral students and students in the Education Policy and Management (EPM) Program. (Students in these programs do not need the instructor’s signature to enroll in the course.) Admitted students will be notified by 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 30.
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