Fall 2026

Economic Decision Analysis

Applied microeconomic theory with quantitative spreadsheet analysis and executive summaries for natural resources and agricultural markets.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Andrew StevensLorin Rudin-Rush

Summary

1 / 7

Historical reviews of Brian Gould, Thomas Cox: Students report extensive homework involving Excel and econ 301 math, often requiring six or more hours weekly. The workload is intense, with a heavy emphasis on long tests and challenging assignments.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

STAT 301, 371,ECON 310,SOC/​C&E SOC 360,PSYCH 210, or (GEN BUS 306 and 307)

AAE/ECON 421

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2022: 3.22 GPA, 55.8% A/AB (n=52 letter grades); Fall 2023: 3.05 GPA, 47.6% A/AB (n=63 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.40 GPA, 70.6% A/AB (n=51 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Andrew Stevens has no reviews. Historical reviews for Thomas Cox describe an intense, fair instructor who challenges students with Excel-heavy homework and rigorous exams, though some found him intimidating. Brian Gould received polarized feedback, with some praising his helpfulness and Excel focus while others criticized his disorganization and difficult exams.

ANDREW STEVENS is recorded teaching in Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

BRENT HUETH is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Fall 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

BRIAN GOULD is recorded teaching in Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Fall 2017. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

THOMAS L. COX is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction27 / 700
LAB 301Classroom Instruction27 / 700
LEC 001Classroom Instruction9 / 640
LAB 301Classroom Instruction9 / 640

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Historical reviews of Brian Gould, Thomas Cox: The course is consistently described as difficult and workload-heavy, requiring significant effort in Excel and math. While some find it a worthwhile, practical experience, others report disorganized instruction and frustrating exams.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.05 GPA, 47.6% A/AB (n=63 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.40 GPA, 70.6% A/AB (n=51 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.50 GPA, 79.5% A/AB (n=39 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Brian Gould, Thomas Cox: Students report extensive homework involving Excel and econ 301 math, often requiring six or more hours weekly. The workload is intense, with a heavy emphasis on long tests and challenging assignments.

Historical reviews of Brian Gould, Thomas Cox: Some students found the class thought-provoking and practically useful for employment, noting that preparation leads to learning. Others found lectures boring and disorganized, with exams that made little sense.

Topics

  • Microeconomic theory
  • Natural resources and agricultural markets

Skills

  • Applying microeconomic theory using spreadsheets
  • Writing executive summaries of economic analyses

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Fall 2026.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1320 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
AAE/ECON 421 · Fall 2026

Economic Decision Analysis

Recorded 2026-09-07
AAE/ECON 421 · Fall 2026

Economic Decision Analysis

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records 
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    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:108:000352",
    "course_id": "AAE/ECON 421",
    "course_uid": "course_580b823ec6cee3c2bb1d921b",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "000352",
    "source_subject_id": "108",
    "title": "Economic Decision Analysis",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:296:000352",
    "course_id": "AAE/ECON 421",
    "course_uid": "course_580b823ec6cee3c2bb1d921b",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "000352",
    "source_subject_id": "296",
    "title": "Economic Decision Analysis",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "b2e2f4dca583d8fd3338a5b95c58ca1637009860a5a7c6068061d9bd15b1e5b5",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}