Jared Barton
You never know what Assistant Professor of Economics Jared Barton might throw at you in courses like Principles of Microeconomics and Experimental Economics.
He might kick off a class by loudly proclaiming 鈥淚 love Econ!鈥� while executing 10 jumping jacks. He鈥檚 been known to use 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� characters to explain comparative advantage, or to invoke 鈥淟ord of the Rings鈥� when expounding on price controls. And he won鈥檛 hesitate to answer a student鈥檚 phone and ask the caller for help with the economic topic at hand.
鈥淪tudents have a lot of things to distract them鈥攆rom jobs and family outside of class to mobile apps, laptops, and their peers,鈥� Barton said. 鈥淭o keep their interest, I have to be more interesting than the second-most interesting thing.鈥�
That鈥檚 not much of a problem for Barton, who discovered economics was fun as a college freshman and decided to share his zeal as a professor.
鈥淓conomics is great because you can study anything about human behavior you want, and the economic way of thinking gives you a tool to understand it,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou're interested in voting? Let me introduce you to public choice. You're interested in wealth inequality? Meet Thomas Piketty. Economics doesn't require you to be interested in interest rates and stock prices; instead, it changes forever how you think about what you're interested in.鈥�
Barton reinforces the human side of economics by engaging students in collaborative assignments that bring economic principles to life. In Experimental Economics, his students choose a famous experiment or topic, summarize the literature on that topic, and then design their own experiment around it. They then present and critique those designs with classmates.
An experimental political economist, Barton researches and writes about topics related to voting, political and non-political persuasion, behavioral economics, and public goods provision.
He loves working with struggling students to help make course material 鈥渃lick.鈥� He also enjoys hearing from former students about how his assignments helped prepare them for their careers.
鈥淚t's the 鈥楰arate Kid鈥� moment,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey thought they were just doing homework 鈥� wax-on, wax-off; paint the fence 鈥� and all of the sudden they discover that these skills actually do something.鈥�