super nice and interesting guy! lots of reading and 500 word weekly writing assignments. 2 papers, 2500 words, and a written final. honestly you can skim the readings and do well, no section, lectures can get boring and rambly but he's great about answering questions in OH and is very accommodating. kind of feels like a history class!
He's a chill prof, accessible after the lecture if you want to discuss with him. Weekly 2 page paper and two-term papers so the workload is not terrible. Lot's of interesting ideas and his book is very accessible to those that do not read many econ books. Can sometimes be disorganized, but who isn't during the 'rona? Great for non-mathy econ peeps
He's a chill prof, accessible after the lecture if you want to discuss with him. Weekly 2 page paper and two-term papers so the workload is not terrible. Lot's of interesting ideas and his chicagonomics book is very accessible to those that do not read many econ books. Can sometimes be disorganized, but who isn't during the 'rona?
40 pages of writing thru quarter, so f you aren't good at writing, don't take. Lectures are incoherent, rambling, tangential, and he jumps around between time periods so you're left confused ( no slides, just him talking to the camera). Also, some things he lectures aren't even historically accurate. Easy class but extremely boring.
Ebenstein is the most boring lecturer I've ever had to listen to. He just rambles for an hour straight with no structure to his lectures. To make it worse, his lectures have nothing to do with the 2200 word research essayS we have to write for him. He just makes us tune in to indoctrinate us with his unfounded beliefs about random stuf. Don't take.
Took 113B in person with him last quarter, it was pretty interesting and an easy-ish A. If classes are still via zoom DO NOT TAKE HIM unless you like to write. He replaced his attendance grade with a weekly paper. Not a super hard class, but not interesting at all and lots of busy work. There are much better econ classes, especially online.
Really boring class especially because his teaching style is super old school! Hes a really nice guy and is always willing to talk to you but the class is just way too boring. Its not as hard as other econ classes but if you need an econ elective I would personally take 106 with Benelli
foo is mad boring
Ebenstein presents a unique, valuable, and applicable perspective on economics while also remaining open minded to considering opposing views in class or office hours. Unfortunately, his lectures can sometimes be a bit poorly organized or repetitive.
This is the most useless class I've ever taken. He held lectures that weren't useful at all, but then forced everyone to come because he'd pass around an attendance sheet in an entire lecture hall. He would lecture on a book and get things wrong, and his "slides" were just his hand-written outline projected onto a screen.
this professor is so hard. do not take. Really hard.
If you are an econ major at ucsb and you see any history of econ class by ebenstein, TAKE THE CLASS. Ebenstein is a friendly, forgiving, easy grader and you learn a lot from the course too! There are random pop quizzes based on readings that have obvious answers, not meant to trick you. There is 1 midterm, 1 final (non-cum), and 1 final paper.
Ebenstein is a great guy and really cares about what he teaches. He'll often touch on current events and isn't afraid to give his opinion, while acknowledging that others may feel differently. I have definitely taken a lot more from this class than others.
His "Economic Thought" class is really interesting. There's a decidely libertarian bent to the class, but it's centered around primary sources, so it's not pervasive. The class has two midterms, a term paper, and a final, and it's paced in a way that isn't rushed. It's best when there's a lot of discussion in the class. He's a visiting professor.
