Principles of Economics

Makes economics stick. Meets students where they are.

Two innovative instructors use their tested insights and successful teaching practices to create a truly student-centered approach: real-world examples, pedagogy developed in their own classrooms, and problem solving tools that resonate with today’s students.

Dirk Mateer has a Ph.D. from Florida State University and is the Senior Lecturer and Gerald Swanson Chair of Economic Education at the University of Arizona. Dirk has been teaching Principles of Economics for over twenty years; he specializes in the Principles of Microeconomics. Before moving to the University of Arizona, Dirk spent 1 year at the University of Kentucky developing their online Principles courses and 15 years at Penn State where he taught very large classes (700 plus students per lecture), developing a reputation as one of the most effective and creative instructors of Principles of Economics in the country; for this, he was recently featured in Businessweek.

Lee Coppock has a Ph.D. from George Mason University and is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia. Like Dirk Mateer, Lee has been teaching Principles of Economics for over twenty years; he specializes in the Principles of Macroeconomics. Lee has been at UVA for more than ten years, where he teaches very large classes (600 plus students per lecture) and has become a local legend. He is especially well known for cutting through the jargon and “econ speak” that plagues so many economics courses and texts, and patiently explaining the lessons of modern economics in terms that his students readily understand.