Professor Wilford's lectures are very, very dry and boring. However, his powerpoints are very organized and can be found on the course website.

Although I didn't have an easy time staying the whole 3 hours for lecture, my bigger problem in the class was discussions. I had Alice as my TA. She was really nice and helpful as a person. Yet, I think there was about 50 pgs to read per week, and the discussions are 2 hours long. The thing is, you MUST be prepared to answer the questions about the readings every week. (The readings are not interesting at all - much about laissez-faire, econ stuff;no social-cultural stuff).

There is 1 midterm exam, 1 paper, and 1 final exam. At first glance, the exams might not seem hard, but the TAs expect A LOT OF DETAILS on the exams. I ended up with a B- (and heck yeah, I was thankful because I got a D on my midterm).

Don't take this class if you were looking for a SOCIAL/CULTURAL class as the description suggests. If you're interested in reading some economic aspects about the "western culture" and the "non-western culture" then take it. Definitely not an easy GE though.