About this course
This is an INTRODUCTORY elective course within the MITx MicroMasters program in Data, Economics, and Development Policy (DEDP), which provides a path towards MIT’s Master’s in DEDP. To enroll in the courses, remain on this site and click the “enroll now” button. If you want to earn a certificate for the courses or start your path towards a MicroMasters program credential, please visit the MicroMasters portal after you enroll.
** Two elective courses are needed to complete the MicroMasters Program Credential in DEDP. At least one elective must be an ADVANCED Elective course. For more information on DEDP MicroMasters program requirements, please visit our FAQ page**
Why are some countries poor, and some countries rich? Should the United States trade more or less with China? Should the United States have a universal basic income? What can we do to mitigate climate change? Why does racism persist and how can we fight it?
Economics shows you how to think about some of the toughest problems facing society -- and how to use data to get answers. This exploratory course is based on the recent book Good Economics for Hard Times and taught by Nobel-Prize winners Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, whose cutting-edge research aims to answer these questions and more.
By specifically addressing today’s most pressing issues in the United States and other advanced economies, this course provides a broad survey of many strands of the current applied economics literature, designed for several types of audiences.
For learners who have not taken introductory economics courses that teach analytical tools and models, this course provides an accessible and intuitive introduction to how economic analysis is applied to current issues, and what those analyses find.
For learners who have studied the core abstract tools, concepts, and methods common in economics, this course provides a strong motivation for these concepts and allows learners to see how core tools are applied by current economic researchers.
Course image is “Beginn bis Ende der Welcome To Hell Proteste”, Thorsten Schröder/t--h--s, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons