The men and women elected to the Colorado General Assembly (the state Legislature) may have a wealth of life experience as lawyers, ranchers or business owners. But when it comes to economics, most of them could use a little help—from undergraduate University of Colorado Boulder economics students.
That’s the idea behind Applied Economics Analysis and Public Policy, an innovative new course taught by economics Professor Jeffrey Zax.
“To the extent that an economic perspective is part of the discussion at the assembly, it’s pretty unsophisticated,” says Zax, who taught the class in spring 2012 and is offering it again for the spring 2013 semester. “And our better undergraduates are actually pretty well trained.”
The purpose of the class is twofold, Zax says.
First, to teach students about public policy, to give them an opportunity to apply economic principles to proposed laws and to explore what the role of government is.
But the class also has the potential to provide policy makers with real-time economic analysis that otherwise would be lacking, Zax says. Â鶹ŇůÔş from the 2012 class attended legislative hearings where they presented their ideas—and were noticed.
“The students found when they testified that whether or not they changed any opinions, they clearly were appreciated. I think the legislators were really surprised by the quality of the analysis,” he says.
The student economists are being noticed at the statehouse. Last spring, Zax received an email on another topic from a representative of the Colorado Center on Law and Policy who was impressed with CU-Boulder students she heard at a committee hearing.
“By the way, three CU undergraduate economics students came down to the Capitol today to testify on a bill that would allow municipalities to opt out of the business personal property tax,” she wrote. “They were amazing! We were very impressed with their testimony, their research and their grace under pressure, as were the senators in (the finance) committee. Just wanted to pass along the kudos.”
“She didn’t even know they were my students,” he says.
Zax will offer the course again this spring, armed with more knowledge about the processes at the Capitol. Last spring, for example, he and the class realized that the timetable on bills can be remarkably short. He would prefer to hold four or five classes before students testify, but by then some opportunities are lost.
“In order to synchronize with the assembly, we need to get a much quicker start than we did,” he says. This time around, he expects to spend the first couple of classes discussing how the Colorado Legislature works before the students begin their analyses and head to Denver.
Given time, Zax believes, the program may take hold.
“I can imagine that the assembly would grow accustomed to having CU students analyze proposed laws,” he says. “We’d love to make this consistent.”
“My hope is to make it a fixture.”
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