Everyday Economics: A New Course by Marginal Revolution University Where Students Create the Syllabus

In 2012, Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabar­rok, two econ pro­fes­sors at George Mason Uni­ver­si­ty, launched Mar­gin­al Rev­o­lu­tion Uni­ver­si­ty (oth­er­wise known as MRUni­ver­si­ty) which deliv­ers free, inter­ac­tive cours­es in the eco­nom­ics space. Dur­ing its ear­ly days, MRUni­ver­si­ty cre­at­ed cours­es on The Great Econ­o­mists, Devel­op­ment Eco­nom­ics, Inter­na­tion­al Trade, and The Eco­nom­ic His­to­ry of the Sovi­et Union. And now it’s cre­at­ing a some­what uncon­ven­tion­al new course called Every­day Eco­nom­ics. The course tries to show how eco­nom­ics impacts peo­ple’s day-to-day lives. And, rather suit­ably, MRUni­ver­si­ty is invit­ing its stu­dents — every­day peo­ple around the globe — to vote for top­ics the course should cov­er. It’s what’s called a “stu­dent-dri­ven” course.

The course is being built in stages, and you can already watch lec­tures (above) from the first sec­tion, taught by Don Boudreaux. It cov­ers Trade and Pros­per­i­ty broad­ly speak­ing, and gets into top­ics like The Hock­ey Stick of Human Pros­per­i­ty and How the Divi­sion of Knowl­edge Saved My Son’s Life.

The next sec­tion, to be taught by Tyler Cowen, will focus on Food. And right now MRUni­ver­si­ty wants your input on the top­ics this sec­tion might focus on. For exam­ple, you might rec­om­mend that they explain “Why is tip­ping so preva­lent in restau­rants but not in oth­er parts of the econ­o­my?” You can make your sug­ges­tions here.

What oth­er top­ics will the course cov­er as it unfolds? It’s all still TBD. But, again, you’re invit­ed to help shape the syl­labus. Big­ger pic­ture sug­ges­tions are being sought here.

For more cours­es on the Dis­mal Sci­ence, don’t for­get to peruse our list of Free Online Eco­nom­ics Cours­es. It part of our meta col­lec­tion called, 1,700 Free Online Cours­es from Top Uni­ver­si­ties.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Mar­gin­al Rev­o­lu­tion Uni­ver­si­ty Launch­es, Bring­ing Free Cours­es in Eco­nom­ics to the Web

An Intro­duc­tion to Great Econ­o­mists — Adam Smith, the Phys­iocrats & More — Pre­sent­ed in New MOOC

The His­to­ry of Eco­nom­ics & Eco­nom­ic The­o­ry Explained with Comics, Start­ing with Adam Smith

Take a Free Course on the Finan­cial Mar­kets with Robert Shiller, Win­ner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Eco­nom­ics

150 Free Online Busi­ness Cours­es