Economics concentrator Ashley L.N. Banfield ’05 also says that the indivisible nature of the course can be a turn-off for undecided freshmen.

“I think the fact that it’s a one-year course makes it really hard for people who are unsure, who don’t know what they want to concentrate in,” she says.

Mankiw readily admits that Ec 10’s indivisible structure is up in the air, saying he is considering allowing students to drop Ec 10 with credit after the first semester. And Ardagna says she would support giving students the choice of only taking micro.

But Mankiw says, “As the new course head I wanted the changes to be gradual,” and doubts such a change will happen next year.

One of Mankiw’s colleagues, Professor of Economics David I. Laibson, says he supports making the course divisible.

“If I were making the decision I think I would lean towards giving students the choice, because I think that the economic principle of consumer sovereignty should generally be followed unless there’s a very compelling case against it,” Laibson says.

But support for allowing students to take only one semester of Ec 10 is not unanimous. Two of the seven TFs interviewed for this article say that Ec 10 should be kept in its current, indivisible form.

“I have been struck by how much the second semester builds on the first,” Bruce D. Watson, who is leaving Ec 10 after six years as a TF, writes in an e-mail. “Students who only take one would be really short-changed; they simply wouldn’t be in a position to understand fully what they’ve covered.”

But virtually all of Harvard’s competitors allow students to take only one semester of economics for credit. At Brown and Stanford, the introductory economics course lasts one semester, covering both micro and macro. At Yale, Princeton, and MIT, both micro and macro are offered in both semesters, although students are encouraged to start with micro.

“I don’t see any real problem, personally, with that, for students who are just a little bit interested in economics and want to pick up something,” says Professor Ray Fair, who has taught introductory macroeconomics at Yale for almost 20 years.

SECTION BY SECTION

TFs agree that Feldstein’s departure and Mankiw’s arrival provide an opportunity to rethink the long-established structure of the course.

“If it’s going to change, it’s going to be now,” Mazor says of Ec 10.

Laibson, who has given a guest lecture at Ec 10 for the past three years, suggests that Mankiw consider giving more lectures himself—perhaps moving some of the teaching of the principles of economics out of the section classroom and into Sanders Theatre.

Feldstein’s Ec 10 lectures have been a common cause of frustration among students. Last spring, Feldstein’s overall CUE Guide rating was 2.7 out of 5, putting him in the bottom 1 percent of the 499 professors who were rated.