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ECON

Economics

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The department at a glance

All recorded grades
average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades

How grades break down

Grades over time

Red: department · Gray: UW–Madison

About these statistics

GPA and percentages are weighted by recorded letter grades. UW comparisons use the same terms. Cross-listed courses count once within this department and once across UW; department totals should not be added together. Grade counts are not unique students. Offering counts reflect captured records, not a complete historical schedule.

Fall 2026

Recorded this term
courses with offerings
instructors recorded

Grades have not been recorded for this term. Historical results remain in the overview above.

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77 courses

Historical grades cover up to five years through the selected term. Grade sorting prioritizes courses with at least 100 letter grades.

Overview of industrial organization theory covering oligopoly, monopolistic competition, product differentiation, and dynamic competitive behavior under uncertainty.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Jean-Francois Houde, Rasmus Lentz: Reviewers report that homework is impossible with no guiding examples, and exams or problem sets are incredibly difficult. Preparation requires navigating messy board notes and a lack of practice problems that relate to assessments.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

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

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

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

ECON 570 introduces the data underlying quantitative economic analysis, teaching students to formulate research questions, access data sources, conduct analysis, and report findings professionally.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

John Brauer's course involves significant Python coding for econometrics, which reviewers find difficult without prior CS or econometrics background, though one Data Science student found it easy.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECON 581 is an honors thesis course where students conduct independent research.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample

ECON 623 examines the economic determinants of population change and demographic behavior, including household formation, marriage, childbearing, mortality, and human capital investments.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Fall 2024 · limited sample

ECON 681 is a Senior Honors Thesis course focused on faculty-guided original research.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course is rated as having low difficulty by the single available reviewer.

No recorded grade history

ECON 690 covers various topics in economic theory and policy.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The grading distribution is heavily weighted toward exams, with 45% for the midterm and 45% for the final, leaving only 10% for homework.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECON 691 is a Senior Thesis course focused on faculty-guided original research.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

ECON 692 is a senior thesis course involving faculty-guided original research in economics.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

ECON 695 covers advanced topics in using data to answer important economic questions.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Matthew Friedman: Reviewers describe the workload as heavy, with exams being particularly stressful and brutal when coding independently, although the curve is often fair.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECON 698 is a directed study course allowing advanced undergraduates to conduct arranged research or study specific topics with a faculty member.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

ECON 699 is a directed study allowing advanced undergraduates to arrange independent research or topic study with a faculty member.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Fall 2024 · limited sample

ECON 700 teaches mathematical techniques for Master-level economics analysis, including proof, optimization, topology, and functional analysis.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course is rated as very difficult by the reviewer.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

MICROECONOMICS I covers consumer theory, producer theory, and market equilibrium with applications to game theory.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

One historical review reports that homework and exams are very hard, with midterm exams containing many questions and limited time that no students finish.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Fall 2025

ECON 703 surveys mathematical techniques for economic analysis, emphasizing linear algebra and optimization.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Raymond Deneckere: The course is rated as difficult, with a rating of 4, and requires careful attention to lectures to gain significant value.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

ECONOMETRICS I covers econometric methods, theory, and applications including linear regression and hypothesis testing.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Kenneth West, Xiaoxia Shi: Reviewers describe the course as hard-core, yet note that exams are easy, suggesting a disconnect between perceived difficulty and assessment format.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECON 706 teaches students to use econometric methods for empirical research and writing in economics.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Christopher Taber: Christopher Taber's course is rated as difficult, with a difficulty score of 4 out of 5.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

Introduction to economic statistics and econometrics, covering probability, inference, and regression.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Homework problems are described as very easy, suggesting low workload difficulty.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

Graduate microeconomic theory covering firms, consumers, markets, and equilibrium.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course requires significant time and deep thinking, with challenging problem sets and long exams. Reviewers describe the workload as intense, noting it is particularly demanding for undergraduates or master's students.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 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 715 covers nonlinear econometric theory as part of its econometric methods curriculum.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2024 · limited sample

ECON 721 covers the contemporary theory of financial markets, portfolio choice, and asset pricing.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The pace is relatively fast, requiring at least eight Python and calculation problem sets, though a final exam can be substituted with a manageable Python project.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

ECON 726 teaches the application of machine learning techniques to economic research, focusing on causal inference and policy estimation.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2025–Fall 2025 · limited sample

ECON 736 examines the theoretical, empirical, and institutional aspects of monetary, fiscal, and income policies used to manage inflation and unemployment.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2024 · limited sample

ECON 741 covers the theory of public finance and fiscal policy, focusing on government functions, welfare criteria, public goods, and cost-benefit analysis.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025 · limited sample

ECON 750 covers theoretical and empirical analysis of labor markets, mobility, earnings, employment, and household labor supply.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course is demanding, requiring students to engage deeply with the material as Kennan does not spoon-feed answers, though he ensures students are never left stranded.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025 · limited sample

ECON 761 covers industrial organization theory, focusing on the firm, oligopoly, and imperfect competition.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025 · limited sample

ECON 770 teaches quantitative economic research using core datasets and econometric modeling.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Kim Ruhl: The course provides hands-on experience with Python, helping students learn programming from scratch.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

Across course levels

Recorded this term

No released grades for this term.

Recorded offerings over time

Offering snapshots currently cover Fall 2026. Earlier grade records do not provide a complete offering history.