Current instructor
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Houde is the most insincere Professor you'll ever meet. Never trust him in anything that he says. Or you will end up compromising your career and grades. As far as possible, avoid him being your teacher or PhD research guide (based on reviews from PhD students at UW Madison). He says something else, does something else. Never true to his words.Rate My Professors ↗
Awful lectures, problem sets and exams. Does not do practice problems that relate to homework or exams in class. The things he does talk about he does not explain very well. Makes the exams/problem sets incredibly difficultRate My Professors ↗
Houde is the most disorganized professor I've seen in my life. And it is outrageous to cancel the lecture one hour before the lecture. It seems that he does not like teaching.Rate My Professors ↗
Material itself was challenging, but Houde did a good job of taking time to explain it. One very annoying student made class unbearable. I studied the notes a ton to do well. The "D-day" analogy is right on. I would almost break-down in tears during the exam, then find out my 65% was an A!Rate My Professors ↗
First exam average was 43/100. Second: 76/100. He curves so that average is a B so he is not sadistic. Exams are like the D-day beach assault, many die but you end up winning. His accent and hand writing make lecture sometimes hard to follow. Pray for a good TA because they are in charge of a large portion of the class. Textbook was GREAT!Good luckRate My Professors ↗
He is very separated from the TA in teaching this class. He leaves topics very vague. Also his lectures are intolerable(and I am an Econ major). The math is very easy, however, and he does a good job of explaining it.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
ECON 581 is an honors thesis course where students conduct independent research.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sampleECON 681 is a Senior Honors Thesis course focused on faculty-guided original research.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
ECON 761 covers industrial organization theory, focusing on the firm, oligopoly, and imperfect competition.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2010: 3.90 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades); Spring 2012: 3.82 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=11 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.70 GPA, 86.4% A/AB (n=22 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Fall 2025 · limited sampleECON 899 covers selections from all fields of economic research.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2022: 3.85 GPA, 88.2% A/AB (n=17 letter grades); Fall 2023: 3.73 GPA, 82.1% A/AB (n=28 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.93 GPA, 93.1% A/AB (n=29 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2026ECON 990 is a thesis course for graduate students to conduct independent research and writing under faculty supervision.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
ECON 999 offers directed study projects for graduate students arranged with a faculty member.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sampleTeaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
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