I just graduated two weekends ago, and looking back at all the Economics classes I took, Prof Boustan's class (Econ 183) was the one I enjoyed the most. She was very clear during lectures and eager to help students. Her responses to our email questions and discussion board questions were very detailed and pretty punctual.

I took this classes during the quarter that the Econ department changed the class to one with a lab section. It did take me by surprise, but I was able to do well, regardless. I took Econ 103, the quarter before, I did horribly in STATA. However, the STATA we used was pretty basic and my ta Carlos was super helpful, during the lab sections. Prof Boustan also helped us with the STATA too. I managed to do well in this class, without as my stress as my other econ classes. I hope Prof Boustan teaches other classes, and replaces other grouchy professors.

Econ 183 certainly has changed a whole lot compared to previous years due to the lab requirement. The lab component made this class extremely difficult and frustrating for me. The course would have been totally fine without the use of STATA. I understand that the lab component was instituted to help students make connections between "real world data" and materials learned in the classroom. But, I would have enjoyed the class much more if I wasn't asked to use STATA to generate countless tables, graphs, and analyze data. Professor Boustan and the TAs expected too much from the students. I came into this class with a poor background of STATA because I learned jacksquat in my Econ 103 class. I struggled so much on the homework assignments because I just could not interpret the coefficients in the way they wanted all students to. With the lab component, Econ 183 places a HUGE emphasis on data analysis. If you're not a fan of this, I highly suggest you steer clear of this class.

Your overall grade breakdown in the class consists of: 25% lab assignments (6 homework assignments, including a presentation for one of them), 30% midterm, and 45% final. For the lab assignments, Boustan will provide an instruction sheet telling you how to generate data and she will ask you to submit one page of your STATA output and one page of your typed, double-spaced data analysis in response to her questions. The first half of the lab assignments were not "easy peasy", only towards the end of the quarter did the homework assignments become less-STATA intensive. For her exams, expect one of the problems to focus completely on analyzing some STATA output.

The TAs were somewhat helpful especially when we had trouble figuring out the correct commands for STATA. I just hated how we could not receive instant help from them. We were asked to submit all of our questions to the class discussion forum and had to wait until Wednesday night of each week before they would reply back. (I really hope they change this...)

Overall, the subject matter of this class was definitely interesting and relatable since it deals with the economic history of US. On the other hand, this class is no longer an "easy econ class" as many of the previous reviewers have said it would be. And, there is no curve (not even a slight one) in this class.

If you absolutely loooooooove Econometrics and interpreting data and 10 digit decimals, then by all means take this class. If you're not strong in either of these areas, I suggest you hang on to your Econ 103 textbook as a reference and/or take this course with your buddy who loves STATA.

Painfully boring lectures. A nice person, but I thought she took an interesting subject and made it into something extremely boring. Would not recommend, even if she is better than most of the other Econ profs. Tests are easy though, as are the assignments.

Let's take all the econ. classes I have taken at ucla and compare it to this one, and I probably learned more in here than in all the others combined. She's an awesome lecturer and the material is useful information that you will actually retain. This class is a star in the spectrum of crappy econ. elective at ucla. Take her!

Great professor. This was probably one of the most interesting and different econ classes I've taken so far. Boustan is an excellent lecturer. She is always prepared and willing to help students with questions whenever she can. She holds additional office hours and review sessions before her exams. She is the only professor who tests directy on what she teaches. Its so refreshing to come across a professor like Boustan in the econ department; which is full of professors who teach/test on absolute nonsense sometimes. Great class, great teacher!! will recommend to everyone!

She is by far the best Economics professor I've had at UCLA thus far. The material isn't very difficult, and it's actually pretty interesting - it's a lot of graphical interpretation. There are no textbooks; she tests you exactly on the lectured material, posts slides and audio podcasts for those that don't want to go to class. Grade structure: 30% midterm, 10% for 2 very easy and interesting assignments, and 50% for the final. She also provided a 5 point extra credit assignment which was very easy to do. It's obvious she's passionate about the material and knows it really well. I would highly, highly recommend this class.

First, my biases, I don't think you have to be very intelligent to pursue Economic History as a career path et. cetera and I find that most of the "concepts" you learn in class are common sense phenomenon. However, Professor Boustan is fantastic. One of the best economics professors I have had at UCLA, she is very prepared during lectures, makes her lectures available on audio podcasts for lazy individuals such as myself that do not want to get up in the morning, posts slides, has a day devoted to Midterm Review and posts practice exams on her website as well. For an economics department overrun by inefficient idiots, she is the exception. Lastly, all of the pointless economics class that preceded this one (namely econ 11,101,102 and 103) this class is a very practical use of theoretical concepts, a lot of graphical interpretation. I would recommend this class, and this comes from a guy who quite frankly only had 3 classes during his time at UCLA that were even moderately tolerable.

Professor Boustan is the best professor I have had at UCLA in the economics department. Not only does she inherently and genuinely care about her role as a teacher, she cares individually about each of her students. She strives to be the best professor she can be and it definitely shows during her lectures, sections, office hours, homework, and exams. I would recommend her to any student in any department who has the slightest interest in the study of economics. Professor Boustan will inspire you academically and I wish I would have discovered her courses earlier in my college career.

She was probably one of the biggest exceptions to the UCLA Economics department. For one, she is NOT a senile old man, that was the greatest shock when i walked into her class. Not only that but she is one of the few econ professors who teach the material they test to, and don't make ridiculously dumb tests. Class is a bit boring, but aren't all Econ classes boring, the cool thing is that seems genuinely interested in the topic she is teaching and actually takes the time to interact with the class.

I can't believe there aren't more reviews for Prof Boustan! Every single professor I've had in the Econ department has been a senile, little, old, white man who either needs to retire or be fired. Prof Boustan is the only anomaly in the entire department. Her lectures are interesting, the material is straightforward, she provides practice exams and her actual exams are not all that difficult to begin with. I think the lowest grade our class got on the midterm was a 72%, so she's obviously an easy grader. She also responds to emails very promptly and genuinely cares if her students don't understand the material. If there were more teachers like her in the econ department, I might have actually enjoyed my major, go Boustan!