PUBPOL-770
PUB FIN IN DEV/EMERGING ECONS
Offered Fall 2026
Term
Overview
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that students say they actually learn something useful. Best for students who want substance, not a disposable elective.
DepartmentPPS
Terms offeredFall
Typical enrollment11–18
Semesters of data3
4.3
Hrs / week
20
Responses
43
Enrollment
47%
Response Rate
Evaluation Scores
Overall quality
Teaching, content, and experience combined.
4.4
Intellectually stimulating
Challenges students to think deeply.
4.4
Instructor effectiveness
Explains concepts and facilitates learning.
4.5
Difficulty
Higher means harder.
3.2
Feedback Analysis
Feedback Analysishigh
Analysis based on student evaluations
Based on 52 comments across 3 sections
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that students say they actually learn something useful. Best for students who want substance, not a disposable elective.
Student Reports
How hard is the A?
A is doable but not automatic
The signal here is more do-the-work-and-you-should-be-fine than easy-A chatter. Students do not describe the A as automatic, but the evidence also does not paint grading as punishing.
Homework Load
Moderate homework load
Homework load looks moderate. The recurring signal is steady weekly work, but not a course that turns every assignment into a grind.
Lecture Load
Regular lecture load
Lectures matter here, but the evidence points to a fairly standard lecture burden rather than a course dominated by long or exceptionally dense lectures.
Strengths
• Students repeatedly say the course teaches something concrete, whether that is content mastery, research skill, or a strong foundation.
Tradeoffs
• There is no single dominant complaint theme, but the feedback is not uniformly glowing either.
Best fit for
Best for students who want substance, not a disposable elective.
Watch out for
• A large share of the evidence comes from one instructor's version of the course, so this may not generalize cleanly.
Student Responses
The interconnected nature of public finances and policy Excel skills The intricacies of designing a tax system in developing countries
Fall 2023 · James, Sebastian
Technical and analytical skills in terms of public finance. Another thing that the professor teaches us is about the real world problems and methodology to address them.
Fall 2023 · James, Sebastian
It is a course where you learn how to apply methodologies to measure impacts on revenues due to elasticity, public interventions and projects. Also it gives you current insights on public finance issues.
Fall 2023 · James, Sebastian
I learned SO MUCH in this course! I was expecting to only learn tax content, but I was pleasantly surprised when we also learned about the role of government, tax frameworks, behavioral economics, policy evaluation, and even the role of multilateral institutions like the World Bank.
Fall 2023 · James, Sebastian
I learned many things that I can not learn from somewhere else, youtube. He is so experienced and keen on teaching.
Fall 2023 · James, Sebastian
Rating History
Rating history
Error bars show \u00B11 std dev
| Term | Instructor | Overall | Difficulty | Hrs/wk | Enrolled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2025 | James, Sebastian | 4.3 | 3.6 | — | 18 |
| Fall 2024 | James, Sebastian | 4.3 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 14 |
| Fall 2023 | James, Sebastian | 4.5 | 3.5 | 5.3 | 11 |
Instructor
Also teaches
PUBPOL-702 APPLIED DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS4.2PUBPOL-741D EMP ANALYSIS FOR ECON DEV4.1PUBPOL-790 SPECIAL TOPICS IN IDP5.0