Current instructor

Menzie Chinn

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.64/5 from 36 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.

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

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

ECON 442
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
Smart guy awful class. Everything about it is confusing and disorganized. Tests were extremely difficult with class averages ~45%. I would not recommend this class even to my enemy
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ECON 442
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
This guy should not be teaching undergraduate students. Lectures are super confusing and not worth your time, and the assignments are super vague with no guidance on how they are graded. This class could be interesting but the disorganization makes it difficult to stay engaged. Super smart and accomplished guy but terrible class.
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PUBAFFR 200
Quality 3/5Difficulty 2/5
I found the class to be pretty easy if you already have a basic understanding of policy issues. I agree with the other reviews that Prof. Chinn assigns work very close to the deadlines with unclear instructions, so be prepared. Otherwise the guest lectures are fun and Prof. Chinn tries to include topics that are of interest.
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PUBAFFR 200
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
P. Chinn's lectures are very average. What makes his class a pain is his assignments. He waits until the last minute to post instructions. When he does post them they are unclear and contain contradictions. On top of that a clear grading criteria is nonexistent. Only take his class if have given up on caring about your grade or learning anything.
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PUBAFFR 200
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
The grading in this class was completely unclear. I ended the course which would have been an A on a normal grading scale but received a B because the curve hurt me so much. The lectures were very all over the place and the criteria was never clear. Prof. Chinn was very kind but not a professor I would take for this class again.
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PUBAFFR 200
Quality 5/5Difficulty 1/5
Professor Chinn is so sweet. He kind of looks like a little old man that you just want to give a hug. I really enjoyed his class and thought that everything he said was very insightful. Only a few assignments but the were graded very easily.Not sure why everyone is being so dramatic on here, I thought this class was super easy and very interesting!
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Menzie Chinn

Examines banking, credit markets, financial institutions, and monetary and debt management policies within the international system.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Menzie Chinn is described as a knowledgeable lecturer who integrates current events and responds to emails quickly. Reviewers note that while the course is advanced and difficult, his explanations are clear and he is fair if students complete the work.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2025–Fall 2025 · limited sample

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

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026ECON 435The Financial System
Fall 2026ECON 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026ECON 691Senior Thesis

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance
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