Spring 2027

Topics in Economics

A course covering topics in economic theory and policy.

offering recorded2–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Fran Flanagan3.7/5Jeffrey Smith

Summary

1 / 5

Past student reviews · Fran Flanagan

The workload included five short homework assignments, one midterm, one final, and a final paper, with homework taking about an hour each.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

ECON 301 or 311 or graduate/professional standing

ECON 690

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

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.71/5 from 62 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 4.4/5 raw quality · 2.2/5 difficulty · 5 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Fran Flanagan

Fran Flanagan taught ECON 690 with clear expectations, quick email replies, five short homework assignments, a midterm, a final, and a final paper. One student found lectures optional, another called the exam easy, and another wished he put more effort into teaching.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.56 GPA, 88.1% A/AB (n=42 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.74 GPA, 92.5% A/AB (n=40 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.45 GPA, 70.7% A/AB (n=41 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Raymond Deneckere

Historical student feedback on Raymond Deneckere described the class as dense and dry, with lectures that were boring. The grading distribution was reported as 45% midterm, 45% final, and 10% homework. One student found the professor easy with grading but noted that skipping lectures caused them to fall behind.

CORINA MOMMAERTS is recorded teaching in Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

FRAN FLANAGAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2023, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MATTHEW FRIEDMAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RAYMOND DENECKERE is recorded teaching in Fall 2025. 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

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 450
LEC 002Classroom Instruction0 / 450

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

Past student reviews · Fran Flanagan

Fran Flanagan taught with clear expectations and learning objectives, and students found the course interesting with substantial learning opportunities.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.74 GPA, 92.5% A/AB (n=40 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.54 GPA, 79.5% A/AB (n=73 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.45 GPA, 70.7% A/AB (n=41 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Fran Flanagan

The workload included five short homework assignments, one midterm, one final, and a final paper, with homework taking about an hour each.

Past student reviews · Fran Flanagan

Lectures were not mandatory, and students noted that exams were relatively easy, requiring minimal study time.

Topics

  • Economic theory
  • Economic policy

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · 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

1280 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.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ECON 690 · Spring 2027

Topics in Economics

Recorded 2026-10-14
ECON 690 · Spring 2027

Economics of Crime

Recorded 2026-10-14
ECON 690 · Spring 2027

Economics of Education

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "source_subject_id": "296",
    "title": "Topics in Economics",
    "credits_min": 2,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
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    "source_subject_id": "296",
    "title": "Economics of Crime",
    "credits_min": 2,
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    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  },
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    "offering_id": "1274:296:024810.19",
    "course_id": "ECON 690",
    "course_uid": "course_76a0854768c03089348672b1",
    "term_id": "1274",
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    "source_subject_id": "296",
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Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "ceb8e0e7c688731853b712a9f0d07e518fac334e54622bb997d433a464259e9a",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}