The first-year courses in Foundations of Economics (SRES 101 & 102) at the Busch School, completely re-designed in summer of 2021, offer a unique learning environment, free of traditional textbooks, mind-numbing problem-solving, and mathematical abstractions. 

Course materials have been designed for a seminar experience, with emphasis on reading and annotating short texts, online discussions before class, and conversation in class with faculty and peers. Supplemental materials include podcasts, videos, articles and news stories. We aim to sharpen intuitions and real-world knowledge, and make economics enjoyable, relevant and interesting for students of all majors and backgrounds.  

The backbone of the course sequence is Tom Sowell’s Basic Economics (Basic Books, 5th ed. 2014) continues to be an international blockbuster and has been translated into multiple languages around the world, including notably Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and Hebrew among others. Subtitled “A Commonsense Guide to the Economy” it communicates economic ideas without graphs or equations, and takes the approach that “learning economics should be as uncomplicated as it is eye opening.”