Economic History and History of Economic Thought This course will provide an introduction to economic history and the history of economic thought. We will investigate and understand the causes and consequences of important historical events and trends, such as industrialization and globalization, from an economic perspective. We devote considerable attention to the dissemination throughout Europe of new industrial and agricultural practices originating in Britain. Along the way, we evaluate how prominent economists perceived and analyzed the events of their time.

The Vermont Economy Middlebury’s home state of Vermont is beautiful, small, rural, and facing several interrelated economic challenges, including a transforming agricultural sector, housing shortages, and high costs of living. We will document key aspects of Vermont’s economy using current economic data while reconciling our findings with articles from local newspapers and personal accounts. Through studying our home economy, we will learn how to tell an economic story using data, how to approach academic expression for college assignments, how to use campus resources to answer research questions, and how to translate classroom learning into lessons on good citizenship on and off campus.

The Vermont Economy: Past and Present In this course, we will study the economic forces shaping Middlebury College’s home state. We will use introductory-level theoretical and econometric tools to investigate the historical roots of key tensions in Vermont's economy, such as the changing agricultural sector, the impact of regulation, and Vermont’s evolving demographic profile. The narrative we construct will place Vermont within the broader context of American economic history. Students will complete an independent project studying some aspect of Vermont’s economy in historical context. (ECON 0150, ECON 0155, and ECON 0111) This course counts as elective credit towards the Economics major.

Economic Statistics (formerly ECON 0210) An introduction to the discipline of statistics as a science of understanding and analyzing data with an emphasis on applications to economics.   Key topics include descriptive statistics, probability distributions, sampling, random variables, the Central Limit Theorem, estimation, hypothesis testing, p-values, and linear regression.  Students will be introduced to a statistical programming language.  A weekly one-hour lab is part of this course in addition to three hours of class meetings per week. (Formerly ECON 0210)

History of the Firm In this course we will trace the history of firms from the Classical Age to the present, using theoretical and empirical economics to understand what makes a “firm,” how firms have been organized throughout history, why firm organization may differ across countries (e.g., early industrial firms in Europe vs. Latin America vs. the United States), and what firm structure implies for economic performance. Our discussion will rely on subfields like institutional economics, development, and finance. Final research papers will evaluate the organizational history of a single firm or the development of firm structures in an industry or country.

Economic Statistics Basic methods and concepts of statistical inference with an emphasis on economic applications. Topics include probability distributions, random variables, simple linear regression, estimation, hypothesis testing, and contingency table analysis. A weekly one-hour lab is part of this course in addition to three hours of class meetings per week. Credit is not given for ECON 0210 if the student has taken MATH 0116, or MATH 0310, or PSYC 0201 previously or concurrently.

Theory and Measurement in Economic History Economic historians study past events, employing diverse methodologies to understand technology adoption, market integration, and the effect of institutions on performance. In this course we will focus on strategies economists use to learn about the past itself and to use past events to understand how all economies function. We will ponder especially conflicts and complementarities between theoretical and empirical reasoning. Each student will complete a research proposal that justifies applying a set of tools to address an economic history question.

Amanda Gregg

Reviews and ratings for Amanda Gregg at Middlebury College.Amanda Gregg teaches Econ Hist/Hist of Econ Thought, The Vermont Economy, VT Economy: Past and Present and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Amanda Gregg good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

You'll get to see many of Professor Gregg's little trinkets she has, ranging from a table-top steam engine to a banjo. At least half of the syllabus is dedicated to unpacking the British Industrial Revolution. Her midterm and final exam are essentially the same format: you'll have to define and explain some terms/concepts, do some calculation problems, and an essay question. For the midterm, she allowed us to revise and resubmit within 5-7 days. I highly recommend this class if you're generally interested in exploring the intersection of economics and history.

This course offers a great chance to learn more about Vermont and improve writing skills. Professor Gregg is enthusiastic and knowledgeable. The course includes a few fun field trips. Readings are manageable. We write in class essays and receive a grade, then revise them. 

Prof. Gregg is the best. She is super enthusiastic and a great teacher. The material itself isn't very hard, especially compared to other econ classes. It's more history based than econ based. Readings due for every class with reading quizzes sometimes. Lots of note taking during lectures, not a lot of problem sets. The problem sets are pretty chill too.