Prof Profile: Corey Van de Waal

Contact Info:
Office: Hagey Hall 213

Phone: 519-888-4567, ext. 32463
Email: chvandew@uwaterloo.ca

What courses do you teach?

I teach all of the micro courses so 101, 201 and 301.

What do you think is the most difficult for students and why?

Probably, 301 because of the mathematical component to it.

What do you think would be a good topic for an honours essay thesis?

Many of the topics I’ve seen have to do with labour economics when I supervise 472 papers. A lot of them have to do with income distribution, some have to do with educational attainment, a lot of minimum wage theory that kind of stuff. Any topic really, that interests you or gets you excited is appropriate. Usually something in line with your supervisors interests in terms of they are doing research in what you are interested in so they have some insight and unique advice that they could give you.

What book do you think all economics students should read?

It’s not even an economics book really, Moneyball is actually quite a good book. I find it interesting in that what it does is it finds a situation where there is an outlier and how you can exploit that to your benefit in certain markets. Another really good book and in particular this author is really good is Malcolm Gladwell. He’s written Outliers, What the Dog Saw and Tipping Point.

What do you think most students don’t know but they should?

Wow, where do I begin? I guess, understanding rational behavior, something so fundamental as rational behavior for the consumer. I think there is some confusion, even into third year, with the idea what a real consumer equilibrium represents. Yeah, I think that’s the most fundamental thing.

Have you had any memorable stories in your teaching career?

Oh God yeah. So many that it is very difficult to pick one out. If I were to pick one out, the first time I taught intro micro I told a story in class about when I was a grad student in the context of an inferior good I give an example that when I was a student you know you don’t have a lot of money so you eat things like Kraft Dinner or in my case dusty noodles, these noodles cups with a pack of dust you pour on it and boil some water, that sort of thing and at the end of that term I had numerous students come to me with packages of dusty noodles. That one was kind of funny but there have been may over the years. In the 6 years I’ve been teaching there’s probably 20 good, funny stories.

What do you enjoy most about teaching?

Just the reaction from the students. I tend to get a fairly positive reaction from the students. It’s interesting to see how they respond to my style of teaching; I’m a little bit laid back and I try to make as many jokes as possible. I try and keep things light and keep that atmosphere in the classroom. So the part I enjoy most is the interaction and feedback I get from students.