Teaching
When I am teaching, I am guided by three goals: fostering critical thinking, linking economic theory to real-world applications, and cultivating both independence and collaboration.
These goals stem from my own learning experience. When I first studied microeconomics as an undergraduate, I struggled to grasp abstract concepts and technical terms. My professor would pause to connect each model to everyday examples—explaining opportunity cost through choosing between part-time work and studying, or illustrating diminishing marginal utility with the satisfaction that declines with each additional burger. Those moments transformed abstract theory into intuition and changed how I understood economics. Since then, I have aimed to recreate that kind of learning environment—one where curiosity drives understanding and students see economics not as a set of rules but as a way to think critically about the world.
1. Fostering critical thinking
A central aim of my teaching is to help students see economics as more than formulas and graphs. I encourage them to approach models critically, reflecting on both their strengths and limitations. For example, when I lectured in the undergraduate Stata Lab, I introduced students to linear regression, the most basic tool in econometrics. Before running any regressions, I asked them to predict the expected relationship between two variables, such as age and wages, and to explain their reasoning. We then estimated the model together and compared the results to their expectations. This exercise helped students distinguish between intuition and evidence and consider how model assumptions shape their interpretation. By engaging students in this way, I help them appreciate both the power and limits of economic reasoning and apply models thoughtfully to real-world data.
2. Connecting economic theory to real-world applications
I strive to make economics tangible by linking theory to data. Each week, I begin with a lecture that introduces key concepts, followed by a Stata session where students work in small groups to clean data, run regressions, and interpret the results. Early in the semester, I use student introductions to create a dataset that they analyze to answer simple questions. Working with their own data helps students see how raw information can be transformed into insight. Later, I extend the analysis to broader datasets, including labor markets, trade, and development, so that students learn how the same principles apply across diverse contexts.
3. Developing independent and collaborative skills
Economics is both an individual and a collective endeavor. To foster independence, I assign individual homework that builds analytical and problem-solving skills. To cultivate collaboration, I incorporate weekly group projects in which students analyze data or debate policy issues. This dual structure promotes accountability and peer learning. On exams, I allow students to choose research questions aligned with their interests, motivating creativity while ensuring mastery of core material. To accommodate different learning needs, I design assignments with both required and optional “bonus” components.
Ultimately, I aim to inspire students to approach economic problems with curiosity, rigor, and confidence. I want them to leave my classes not only with stronger technical skills but also with the mindset of economists, able to apply economic reasoning to the choices they face, the data they encounter, and the world they live in.