Instructor Interview
Professor Jonathan Gruber wants to train students to think like economists. Economics uses elegant mathematical models to explain how people make decisions and allocate their resources—but all too often those models are taught in ways that remain disconnected from students’ own experience. In the episode of OCW’s Chalk Radio podcast embedded below, Professor Gruber shares his thoughts on bridging that gap in his course 14.01 Introductory Microeconomics (the name given to 14.01 Principles of Microeconomics in its version on the MITx platform). He says he tries to anchor learning with real-world examples; as he explains, “You only really understand something when you go out in the real world and apply it.” And those examples, he says, have to be relatable. So rather than discussing companies none of his students have heard of or commodities nobody cares about, he illustrates fundamental economic concepts with examples like Kim Kardashian’s exercise corset, Uber’s policy of surge pricing, and LeBron James’s decision not to attend college. By engaging students with accessible examples of economic principles in action, Professor Gruber helps them develop economic intuition—a sense of how the mathematical models apply in the real, seemingly chaotic world.
Bonus Video Interview
Prof. Gruber likes to tell his students that economics is a fundamentally right-wing science. What he means by that is that classical economics is built on one powerful explanatory insight: that free markets—networks of buyers and sellers, producers and consumers, weighing the trade-offs of different options and making self-interested choices based on supply and demand—do a better job of deciding how to allocate resources than can be achieved by a top-down, command-economy approach. But as Gruber goes on to explain in the video interview below, that principle only holds when all participants have equal access to markets and to information; in the real world, imbalances in that access lead to market failures, inefficient allocations of resources that leave most people worse off than they would otherwise be. That’s why government regulation still has a role in a properly functioning economy. Play the video to hear Prof. Gruber explain why we need “capitalism with gutter guards” to ensure equitable outcomes, especially in sectors of the economy such as healthcare where the ideal markets envisioned by classical economics are particularly unattainable or undesirable.
Curriculum Information
Prerequisites
None, although some calculus at the level of 18.01 Single Variable Calculus is used in the course.
Requirements Satisfied
- General Institute Requirement (GIR)
- Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS)
- Economics bachelor’s degree requirement
- Planning bachelor’s degree requirement
Offered
Every semester
Assessment
The students’ grades were based on the following activities:
- 25% Eight problem sets; only the seven highest scores count toward the final grade
- 25% Midterm exam
- 50% Final exam
Student Information
Enrollment
230 students
Breakdown by Year
Mostly undergraduates, with a few graduate students also enrolled.
Breakdown by Major
The course attracts students from a variety of concentrations.
How Student Time Was Spent
During an average week, students were expected to spend 12 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:
Lecture
Prof. Gruber’s lecture classes met 2 times per week for 1 hour per session; 27 sessions total; mandatory attendance.
Recitation
Recitations, conducted by the graduate TAs, met 1 time per week for 1 hour per session; these sessions introduced new material in addition to reviewing material from the lectures.
Out of Class
Students spent time out of class completing problem sets and studying for exams.
Course Team Roles
Professor Gruber
Delivering lectures; holding regular office hours
Teaching Assistants (4)
Leading weekly recitation sections; holding regular office hours.
