Spring 2027

The American Economy Since 1865

Examines the American economy since 1865, covering the emergence of large corporations, growth and instability, government participation, and the impacts of war, depression, discrimination, and international responsibilities.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · James Walker

Grading relied on a few large assignments, and attendance was randomly checked during lectures. One student noted the class was challenging but found exams very doable if they attended lectures and read the required materials.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe critical economic events in American history.

  • Discuss the application of fundamental concepts of economics to real-world issues facing the post-Civil-War United States.

  • Identify the determinants and consequences of historical economic events, and use them to critique current economic issues.

  • Evaluate quantitative claims with a focus on “orders of magnitude” and other practical skills.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

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

Prerequisites

Course map

ECON 101 or 111

ECON/HISTORY 466

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

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

JAMES R WALKER is recorded teaching in Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022. 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

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

Meeting source records

No records available.

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · James Walker

The course offers an engaging, non-quantitative look at economic history. Students described the content as interesting and a nice diversion from standard economics, with James Walker fostering a friendly classroom environment.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2018: 3.45 GPA, 56.8% A/AB (n=37 letter grades); Spring 2020: 3.26 GPA, 44.4% A/AB (n=27 letter grades); Spring 2022: 3.19 GPA, 45.7% A/AB (n=35 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · James Walker

Grading relied on a few large assignments, and attendance was randomly checked during lectures. One student noted the class was challenging but found exams very doable if they attended lectures and read the required materials.

Past student reviews · James Walker

Opinions on James Walker varied significantly; some found him friendly and humorous, while another student found his delivery boring and difficult to understand. One reviewer suggested partnering with others made exam preparation easier.

Topics

  • Emergence of the large corporation and economic growth/instability since the mid-19th century.
  • Increasing government participation in the economy.
  • Impact of war, depression, discrimination, and international responsibilities.

Skills

  • Critique current economic issues using historical determinants and consequences.
  • Evaluate quantitative claims focusing on orders of magnitude.
  • Apply fundamental economics concepts to post-Civil War US issues.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2022— 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 2022

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2022 · 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

1168 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

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
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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.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

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Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
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  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "26f60c80bd7e8aac760e1e393dc0843516403cbbdedba12c2fb02c1bdbc56293",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}