The AEA/ASSA 2025 Annual Meetings hosted a session “A Fresh Look at the Future of the Intermediate Microeconomics Course,” extended in this issue as a symposium, offering papers covering the state of intermediate microeconomics courses (Hoyt, Marshall, O’Sullivan, Patel, & Underwood, 2025) and crossing from the discussion of modernizing what we teach (Halliday & Mamunuru, 2025) to how we teach it (Jacobson & Viceisza, 2025). In this paper, I offer some thoughts on how these projects viewed together may offer a starting point for the discussion of how intermediate microeconomics courses might need to evolve and where there is a need for more educational research to light the path ahead.
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BalabanR. A.GilleskieD. B.TranU. (2016). A quantitative evaluation of the flipped classroom in a large lecture principles of economics course. The Journal of Economic Education, 47(4), 269–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220485.2016.1213679
DeslauriersL.McCartyL. S.MillerK.CallaghanK.KestinG. (2019). Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(39), 19251–19257. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821936116
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FreemanS.EddyS. L.McDonoughM.SmithM. K.OkoroaforN.JordtH.WenderothM. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(23), 8410–8415. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111
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GoffeW. L.KauperD. (2014). A survey of principles instructors: Why lecture prevails. The Journal of Economic Education, 45(4), 360–375. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220485.2014.946547
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HallidayS.MamunuruS. M. (2025). Updating our approach to teaching intermediate microeconomics. American Economist.
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HallidayS. D.MaklerC.McKeeD.PapadopoulouA. (2024). Improving student comprehension through interactive model visualization. International Review of Economics Education, 47, 100296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iree.2024.100296
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HoytG. M.MarshallE. C.O’SullivanR.PatelD. (2025). An examination of the intermediate microeconomic theory course: Current landscape and future directions. SSRN Working. Paper 5257977.
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HoytG. M.MarshallE. C.O’SullivanR.PatelD.UnderwoodA. (2025). How should we think about the intermediate microeconomics course in light of recent trends in the economics major?American Economist.
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JacobsonS.ViceiszaA. (2025). All flowers, no weeds in intermediate microeconomics: Inclusive teaching in the hardest core class. American Economist.
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OwenA. L.HagstromP. (2021). Broadening perceptions of economics in a new introductory economics sequence. The Journal of Economic Education, 52(3), 175–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220485.2021.1925189
