← Economics (ECON)

Easiest courses in Economics

Looking for a gentler semester? Start with courses where students have earned higher grades.

Highest historical GPA first. At least 100 letter grades over the five years through the selected term. Grades reflect past outcomes, not workload or a guaranteed result.

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49 courses

Historical grades cover up to five years through the selected term. Only courses with at least 100 letter grades are ranked.

ECON 475 provides a theoretical analysis of economic growth and development, modeling factors like saving, investment, institutions, and trade.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course involves significant mathematical content, including differential equations. Homework assignments are time-intensive, requiring 6 to 10 hours per assignment, and exams are described as hard.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Fall 2025

First course in a macroeconomics sequence covering general equilibrium, intertemporal optimization, and growth theory.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

ECON 521 teaches game theory and economic analysis, focusing on multi-agent decision problems involving coordination, cooperation, and conflict.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course features difficult homework and confusing problem sets that are harder than the exams. Lectures are fast and complex, requiring significant effort to grasp the material.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

Sports Economics examines the economics behind professional and intercollegiate sports teams and franchises.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2024–Fall 2025

ECON 205 teaches quantitative tools, including algebra, financial mathematics, and calculus, applied to economic models and optimization problems.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course begins with algebra and calculus, becoming progressively harder as economic concepts are integrated, requiring serious effort to succeed on exams.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

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

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

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 GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

Intermediate macroeconomic theory covering national income determination and analysis of economic aggregates.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Eudey’s homework is manageable and exams are similar to practice materials, though one student found exams harder. Alder’s homework and exams are described as super hard and chain-linked, requiring significant self-teaching from the textbook as lectures do not prepare students for the tests.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Principles of Macroeconomics covers macroeconomic measurement, aggregate demand and supply models, and fiscal and monetary policy impacts on unemployment, inflation, and growth.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course features tough exams and extensive material. Johnson covers more content than others, while Chan provides manageable weekly quizzes and homework, though her tests require significant studying.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECON 101 introduces microeconomic principles focusing on value, pricing, and income distribution across individuals, firms, and industries.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Reviewers describe weekly cycles of textbook reading, video lectures, participation activities, problem sets, and quizzes. Assessments include multiple midterms and a final exam, with some professors dropping one midterm or offering open-note exams.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECON 522 applies economic analysis to legal rules and institutions, focusing on how law influences individual incentives across property, contracts, torts, procedure, and criminal law.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Daniel Quint, Fran Flanagan: Homework is typically easy and straightforward, but midterms can be challenging. Exams are generally fair, though some students find assignments tricky.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

Introductory Econometrics covers statistical methods for applied economic research, including regression, ANOVA, and forecasting.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Some students find Yata's lectures confusing and recommend skipping them to study independently using textbooks and past papers.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Analytical Public Finance analyzes domestic public sector issues like education, welfare, and the environment using economic analysis tools.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Jesse Gregory, Rebecca Glawtschew: Workload varies by instructor; Jesse Gregory assigned six homeworks, two midterms, and a final, while Rebecca Glawtschew assigns weekly problem sets and chapter-specific practice problems to prepare for tests.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Behavioral Economics examines departures from rational norms using psychological enrichments of the standard model.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course requires at least five hours weekly for dense reading, which students find difficult to keep up with. Homework is considered easy, but the final exam focuses heavily on definitions rather than calculations.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Covers contemporary international trade theory, analyzing why and what nations trade, and examining current policy issues.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews describe tests as tough but fair, requiring attendance and study to achieve high grades, with homework and exams being very fair.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Fall 2025

Covers contemporary theory of consumption, production, pricing, and resource allocation.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Problem sets are time-consuming and difficult, often requiring office hours. Exams are heavy, with tests challenging and requiring significant study time beyond lectures.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECON 330 Money and Banking covers monetary economics, the role of money in determining output, prices, and interest rates, commercial and central banking, monetary policy, and the international monetary system.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Reviews indicate a moderate difficulty level, with no specific complaints about excessive workload or preparation requirements mentioned in the available feedback.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Fall 2025

Introduction to corporate finance and investment concepts including valuation, capital budgeting, and financial markets.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course is consistently described as tough with hard exams and significant reading, particularly because Laplante wrote the textbook. Success requires substantial effort and ownership of one's education.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECON 310 introduces the analysis of economic data using descriptive statistics and statistical inference techniques like hypothesis testing and estimation.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course is described as hard, with difficult midterms and finals. Workload includes weekly homework via MindTap or Aplia, which some find time-consuming. One review notes that exams can be harder than practice problems.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECON 400 introduces applied econometrics, teaching statistical methods to evaluate empirical relationships and test economic theory using real-world data.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course features reasonable problem sets and challenging exams. While tests are considered tricky or hard, reviewers find them fair and note that they are curved.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026