I came into this class expecting bad things from this professor. And it was hard to believe the ratings as he appeared to be nice and accommodating. The reality was his lectures contained the info. but he didn't actually teach it well at all. The hw is very straightforward with about 10 questions and multiple choice. However, the tests were complicated and it would be hard to believe the questions were similar to the hw assignments. I received an A in Econ 11 and expected i would do alright as well in this class. I just couldn't understand his tests well enough to score past a 76%. The cherry on top was his inability to round or really look into my final grade as I was .3 away from a B-. Really pretty disappointing and just expect to be confused on his tests. Nice guy but just not the best teacher.

-- Professor Haanwinckel (H) has completely restructured his class, so this is a more accurate review for his class after Winter 2023! His exams are much easier than in previous years and his lecture notes are very detailed. He mostly just goes over the lecture notes in class, and is very knowledgeable and answered every question I asked him this quarter. He was very happy to answer questions and an overall friendly dude.

-- The grade was made of 2 midterms, a final, and 6 problem sets. Each problem set took 1-2 hours to do, very manageable, especially because you could compare with your classmates and submit answers together after reviewing the questions. The grading was as such:

-- 10% problem sets
-- AND
-- 40% Best Midterm and 50% Final
-- OR
-- 30% Each exam

--The averages for the exams were all about 80, I got 101, 102 (setting the curve), and 83 for the two midterms and final, respectively. Exams are cumulative, but more weighted toward the material covered since the previous exam. You get 6 pages of notes for each exam. I didn't actually use the notes during the exam, but it was helpful review preparing the cheat sheet.
--Overall, he was very nice and friendly, discussion notes were very helpful, and the problem sets weren't too bad. An A is very manageable if you put in the work and take the time to study for his exams. Good luck!

Daniel did acknowledge the exams in the past were extremely difficult and he tried to improve by making exams more similar to problem sets and slides. However, his exams were still extremely difficult and not worded well at all as if it’s purposely trying to trick or confuse you. He claimed that he won’t try to “trick us” on exams, but I personally felt otherwise. I personally felt extremely prepared walking into exams but then ended up guessing on more than half of it.

Teaching wise, he had really helpful and detailed slides, but the way he explained some of the concepts made them harder than it should’ve been to understand. Even though I was familiar with some of the concepts beforehand, I was still confused by it after hearing him explain it.

Overall, Daniel is extremely knowledgeable in his field of Economics and great person to talk to, but unfortunately that didn’t reflect onto his teaching in my opinion. All the reviews in the past still stands with the exception that exams were “easier” (still very difficult) and I wouldn’t recommend taking him if you want a class that truly tests you on what you know rather than it be a guessing game on every exam.

I took this class during covid and it was also his first quarter teaching so things might be very different in later quarters. The grade was 10% based off of hw and the rest was the two midterms and the final. If you scored lower on one of the midterms than the other midterm and the final then that test grade was dropped which thankfully took some pressure off.

The two midterms were both extremely hard. The prof tended to ask more conceptual questions that were much harder than the hw and the practice exams he gave us. During both exams I felt like I had no idea what was going on and ended up getting a raw score of about 50 both times. He curved both tests, though I'm not sure how. I and many others in the class thought that the midterms were unfair in how hard they were and felt that we were not adequately prepared for them. The prof must have received this feedback and taken into account because for the final he gave us a practice exam that was much closer to the real test. He also curved the final and the final grades (although again, I'm not sure exactly how).

Bottom line is I would recommend taking this class with this prof. Through his emails and his willingness to accept feedback for the final he showed that he cared about his students. He was very encouraging, I never went to office hours but I heard he was helpful. The time commitment for hw is very minimal--weekly problem sets that can be done if you set aside a solid chunk of time. His lectures were pretty engaging and I appreciated how he connected the topics to real-world examples and broader social science concepts. I think the fact that he was such a new professor really made him more in touch with students unlike older professors who just care about their research.