Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren for a discussion of the economic pressures confronting the two income middle class family as it struggles to pay mortgages, health care, and education costs. Professor Warren offers surprising answers to "Who goes bankrupt and why?" and explores the role of banks and credit card companies in tightening the squeeze on the average American family. The interface between politics and the law in addressing these problems is explored. (59 minutes)

On this episode, UC BerkeleyŐs Harry Kreisler talks with Perry Anderson Professor of History and Sociology at UCLA about his intellectual journey and the status of the left. 58 min)

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Chalmers Johnson for a discussion of his new book, Nemesis. In the interview, Johnson, an Emeritus Professor of the University of California, analyzes the impact of the American empire on democracy at home. Comparing the United States to Rome and Great Britain, he argues that a combination of military Keynesianism, the Bush administration's attempt to implement a unitary presidency, and the failed checks on executive ambition point to political and economic bankruptcy. (59 minutes)

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Harvard historian Niall Ferguson for a discussion of his book ŇThe War of the World.Ó Ferguson analyzes the role of ethnic conflict, economic volatility, and the decline of empires in making the twentieth century the most violent one in human history. (57 min)

Conversations with History host Harry Kreisler welcomes Earl Anthony Wayne, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs. They discuss changes in U.S. economic policy under President George W. Bush. (53 min)

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Mark Leonard, Executive Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, for a discussion of the ideas that are influencing the domestic and foreign policy debates in China. Through a careful examination of what Chinese intellectuals have to say on topics such as democracy, economy, and international relations, Leonard finds distinctive Chinese worldviews. The West must understand the contours of these debates to effectively address China's rise because they offer important insights into how China will use its enormous power to shape world order in the twenty-first century. (59 minutes)

Working in small groups, students determine how 18 items are included in GDP (or if they are excluded.) Cards turned over one at a time encourage participation by all group members.

Database of a series of statistical indicators, primarily economic, but also social and educational, on each OECD countries. Can be viewed either online or downloaded as excel files. The excel downloads also allow for graphical comparisons with other OECD countries.

Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module. Students track their expenses and use Excel to compare them to Seattle/Tacoma averages. Developed for adult students taking English as a Second Language.

This lesson will provide high school students with information about how a credit card works, and understand what information determines a personal credit score.

This course enhances cross-cultural understanding through the discussion of practical, ethical, and epistemological issues in conducting social science and applied research in foreign countries or unfamiliar communities. It includes a research practicum to help students develop interviewing, participant-observation, and other qualitative research skills, as well as critical discussion of case studies. The course is open to all interested students, but intended particularly for those planning to undertake exploratory research or applied work abroad. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments.

CultureTalk - Arab World features native speakers from across the Arabic-speaking world giving filmed interviews, in Arabic and sometimes English, on selected topics. Text-based translations and transcriptions are often provided as downloadable documents for most Arabic videos. The videos engage a number of region/country-specific topics, including cultural traditions, religion, politics, and sports.

CultureTalk - Arab World features native speakers from across the Arabic-speaking world giving filmed interviews, in Arabic and sometimes English, on selected topics. Text-based translations and transcriptions are often provided as downloadable documents for most Arabic videos. The videos engage a number of region/country-specific topics, including cultural traditions, religion, politics, and sports.

This class addresses important, current debates in media with in-depth discussion of popular perceptions and policy implications. Students will engage in the critical study of the economic, political, social, and cultural significance of media, and learn to identify, analyze, and understand the complex relations among media texts, policies, institutions, industries, and infrastructures. This class offers the opportunity to discuss, in stimulating and challenging ways, topics such as ideology, propaganda, net neutrality, big data, digital hacktivism, digital rebellion, media violence, gamification, collective intelligence, participatory culture, intellectual property, artificial intelligence, etc., from historical, transcultural, and multiple methodological perspectives.

Data on Chinese / U.S. balance of payments. [Economics playlist: Lesson 17 of 20]

D-Lab Development addresses issues of technological improvements at the micro level for developing countries—in particular, how the quality of life of low-income households can be improved by adaptation of low cost and sustainable technologies. Discussion of development issues as well as project implementation challenges are addressed through lectures, case studies, guest speakers and laboratory exercises. Students form project teams to partner with mostly local level organizations in developing countries, and formulate plans for an IAP site visit. (Previous field sites include Ghana, Brazil, Honduras and India.) Project team meetings focus on developing specific projects and include cultural, social, political, environmental and economic overviews of the countries and localities to be visited as well as an introduction to the local languages.

D-Lab: Design addresses problems faced by undeserved communities with a focus on design, experimentation, and prototyping processes. Particular attention is placed on constraints faced when designing for developing countries. Multidisciplinary teams work on semester-long projects in collaboration with community partners, field practitioners, and experts in relevant fields. Topics covered include design for affordability, design for manufacture, sustainability, and strategies for working effectively with community partners and customers. Students may continue projects begun in EC.701J D-Lab I: Development.

This course introduces methods for harnessing data to answer questions of cultural, social, economic, and policy interest. We will start with essential notions of probability and statistics. We will proceed to cover techniques in modern data analysis: regression and econometrics, design of experiments, randomized control trials (and A/B testing), machine learning, and data visualization.
We will illustrate these concepts with applications drawn from real-world examples and frontier research. Finally, we will provide instruction on the use of the statistical package R, and opportunities for students to perform self-directed empirical analyses.
MITx Online
This course draws materials from 14.310x Data Analysis for Social Scientists, which is part of the MicroMasters Program in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy offered by MITx Online. The MITx Online course is entirely free to audit, though learners have the option to pay a fee, which is based on the learner’s ability to pay, to take the proctored exam and earn a course certificate. To access that course, create an MITx Online account and enroll in the course 14.310x Data Analysis for Social Scientists.

This assignment asks students to write a data-rich policy brief, showing their ability to apply standard microeconomic models and contextualizing the policy debate with numeric evidence.