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)

Introductory Microeconomics An introduction to the analysis of such microeconomic problems as price formation (the forces behind demand and supply), market structures from competitive to oligopolistic, distribution of income, and public policy options bearing on these problems.

The Economics of Sports This is a survey course of topics illustrating how microeconomic principles apply to the sports industry. Topics covered will include the industrial organization of the sports industry (notably, issues of competitive balance and the implications of monopoly power), the public finance of sports (notably, the impact teams have on host municipalities), and labor issues related to sports (including player worth and discrimination). The prerequisites for this course are meant to ensure that students can both understand fundamental economic concepts and present the results of econometric research as they apply to the sports industry. (ECON 0111 (formerly ECON 0210) and ECON 0211 and ECON 0255)

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.

Paul Sommers

Reviews and ratings for Paul Sommers at Middlebury College.Paul Sommers teaches Economic Statistics, Intro Microeconomics, The Economics of Sports and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Paul Sommers good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

Sommers is a very nice professor who loves to crack jokes. There is a small (very doable) problem set due each class, and exams are take-home. There is also a research group project. Overall, this is a pretty chill stats class

I took this class with Steven Pecsok, but he wasn't an option. I really enjoyed this class. He's a decent teacher, sometimes confusing, but he makes his classes interesting. I would highly recommend going to his office hours because it is very helpful. Not too much work other than 1 problem set a week and 3 exams.  I would definitely take another class with him. 

I took this class a major requirment, and it was just super boring. Prof. Sommers is so nice, but his way of teaching just didn't help concepts stick and the STATA just always seemed like another class entirely. Also, problem sets every class just made the learning feel like busy work. However, all exams are take home, which is really nice 