The Center for Economic Freedom at Roanoke College received external funding to begin a student-centered research group beginning in the fall semester of 2020. The experience is student-centric and employs a hybrid educational pedagogy that prepares students for a remote workplace.
WHY? COVID-19 changed the way our economy functions, how we teach, and challenged the student learning process. At the same time, the popular press and some of their “experts” do not understand how crises are considered through the economic lens, including the joint consideration of public health and economic freedom. Surprisingly few people understand the economic way of thinking including how economists consider crises. Some believe and publicly state that economic thought is at odds with promoting public health, when economists specifically value human life (including lives other than their own.) As economist Betsy Stephenson said on an April 15thPlanet Money podcast, “Of course we put a value on human life. Why wouldn’t we?” COVID-19 brought the wide misunderstanding of economic thinking to the forefront.
Over the course of two semesters, the student team will learn:
- how to critically consider published reports about the effects of COVID-19 and related policies
- about important variables/information pertaining to the conversation
- how to download and “clean” that information
- how to analyze that information and study relationships within
- how to effectively present their findings visually, orally, and with the written word
- how to effectively communicate with team members through a variety of environments
Students will sharpen and build oral and written communication skills, both in person and virtually through Zoom and Slack, skills of increasing importance in the 2020 workplace and beyond.
We hope to repeat this experience in subsequent academic years and build relationships and projects with local government and private organizations in the Roanoke Valley. Follow our page to find out what each student is working on and contact us if you have a research question that you would like for us to explore. We generate economic research for the greater good.
The ECON LAB @ Roanoke College 