Gregory C. Mason

Research and teaching in public-policy

Teaching

I believe that economics is a uniquely powerful way to understand the world and how to implement change to advance human well-being.

My teaching has two goals:

  1. To imbue  students with the interest and skill to evaluate economic policy using state of the art qualitative and quantitative methods.  My approach to evaluating public policy combines the standard methods of economic evaluation (cost-benefit, econometrics, and experiments) with the techniques of program evaluation (logic modelling, program fidelity, specifying and testing theories of change, political/social context analysis).
  2. To support students in their pursuit in careers as practising economists in industry, government, and academia.

In all my courses, I align evaluation processes with the course objectives and set out the course content, process, and my expectations in detailed course outlines.  I see these course outlines as a mutual contract between myself and my students.

Course Outlines

Econ 2050 Economic Analytics Using Computer Methods (2021)

This course is completely online with no formal lectures. Students access course materials though UMLearn. The text and videos appear here for students who wish to pre-read the course. Students need to self-direct their learning and prepare for the term tests and final

Econ 4140/7150 Economic Evaluation of Public Policy and Programs (2021)

This course will combine Honours/Advanced Undergraduates and Graduate students in the same course.  As a blended course, graduate students will be expected to do more advanced work. The course will be online with video lectures through Cisco Webex and all materials accessible through UM Learn. Course outline here:

Econ 4822  Economic Research and Communication (Fall 2021 and Winter 2022)

The course will be online with video lectures through Cisco Webex and all materials accessible through UM Learn. Course outline here:

To access course content on UMLearn, the University of Manitoba online Learning platform, students must be registered in the course.  Access starts for registered students 7 days before the formal lecture period begins.