Author Archives: Al Eisenbarth

Question Building Part 1 (of 2)


We completed our first Question Building (QB) assessment in class on Thursday, March 4th.

Al asked students to respond to the following prompts:
A) What is something you have learned in our class?
B) What is something you would like to learn in our class?

In order to get full credit (10 of 10 possible points), answers needed to meet the following criteria:

Responses to part A:
– came from something we had either talked about in class or encountered in class materials (readings, videos, etc.)
– were a piece of information (not just a topic)

Responses to part B:
– were related to what we have done in class so far
– were stated as a question

An example of a 10/10 response is:
A) I learned that a positive statement is a statement about the way the world is whereas a normative statement is about how someone wants the world to be.
B) I want to know: What is the relationship between GDP growth and job growth?

Students who completed this assignment in class were given the opportunity to workshop their responses with other students and with Al. Students who did not complete the assignment in class should contact Al over email to schedule a time to complete the assignment (aeisenbarth@bmcc.cuny.edu).

Week 6 – Consumption & Savings

Before Class on Monday, 03/08
Watch (6:39) – Khan (2014) – Consumption Function Basics
Read (ppt slides) – Eisenbarth (2021)
Read – Moore (2020) – The Economics of Race
In Class
White, Martha. (2021). “Americans are saving more during the pandemic — but there’s still a huge demographic divide.” NBC News. 10 February.

Before Class on Thursday, 03/11
Have tried or completed all of Weekly Review 4

Week 4 – Economic Growth

Before Class on Monday, 02/22
Read – Lumen Learning: Macroeconomics
Module 6: Macroeconomic Measures – What is Gross Domestic Product? and Calculating GDP
Watch (17:42) – Pheko (2020)

In Class
(In Class) Slides – Economic Well-Being
Fed Reserve of Dallas – Deflating Nominal Values to Real Values
Cassidy (2020) – Can We Have Prosperity Without Growth?

Before Class on Thursday, 02/25
Have tried all of Weekly Review 3

Introductions

Hello All! I am looking forward to working with you this semester. You may call me Al (that’s spelled ay el, not ay eye). My pronouns are they/them. I have been teaching at BMCC since Spring 2019 and before that, I’ve been teaching at NYU and The New School since 2015. I’m really grateful to be working here with the committed faculty and students I have met. I believe that anyone can learn economics because everybody engages with their local economy as part of daily living! Please respond in a comment below to introduce yourself. To do so click “Leave a Comment” up top. Please note, everything posted to this website is viewable to the entire BMCC OpenLab community. If you prefer, you’re welcome to email me instead but please do respond. Please include:
  • Your Name (as registered)
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  • Why you are taking this class
  • Something that helps you learn
  • Something you enjoy