University of Massachusetts Boston

Selected comments:

  • I enjoyed learning under the guidance of Professor Jiang. Her teaching approach was both rigorous and engaging, which made learning complex labor market concepts much more accessible and meaningful. The structure of the course balanced theory and application in a way that deepened our understanding. The problem sets were especially effective in reinforcing the material covered in lectures. They served as a clear and concise summary of key notions and allowed us to apply our knowledge in practical contexts. Additionally, the lectures themselves were dynamic and thought provoking, and the discussions that followed them helped clarify difficult concepts and fostered an environment where students felt comfortable exchanging ideas and building connections across different topics. The reading reflections were also a valuable part of the course. They encouraged critical thinking and allowed us to engage with academic literature in a structured and reflective way, strengthening our analytical skills. Overall, this course was intellectually enriching, and I truly appreciated the effort and clarity Professor Jiang brought to each class. I would like to thank her for a well-designed and impactful learning experience.

  • Professor Jiang has an amazing ability to teach. I would consider her talent to be teaching. I could not have imagined any other professor teaching a difficult course and topic better than Professor Jiang. Her ability to teach econometrics is invaluable.

  • Approachable, easy to ask questions without feeling like she would judge us - She wants us to succeed and is very encouraging, for both class related issues and even offer help with finding jobs and research opportunities - She gives practice exam that greatly help with preparing for exam - Her exams are interesting because she uses empirical papers to question us, which tests our ability to interpret and read academic papers.

Columbia University: Instructor of Record

Selected comments:

  • Enumerating all I have learned in this course is not feasible. I genuinely feel transformed as a budding economist in terms of the knowledge and skills (e.g. critically examining the econometric validity of academic research) I've gained. I would strongly recommend that undergraduates and master's students studying economics enroll in such a course in order to have the opportunity to see how the fundamentals, as well as extensions of formal economic models apply to different empirical questions.

  • I learned the theoretical underpinnings of the field of Labor Economics as well as their contemporary applications…She encouraged discussion and made us feel comfortable in the necessary struggle of developing familiarity with the language and calculations. ... I developed confidence in interpreting and creating visual depictions through charts and tables. I got to experience the satisfaction of understanding formulas on a granular level and successfully identifying, replicating, and applying them. I really enjoyed presenting my findings and grew significantly as a communicator in economics.

  • This class should be a core class due to the immense value of labor economics for everyone that will be in the labor market working in any capacity for all industries. Professor Jiang did a great job at teaching us to learn and understand academic paper, point out questions that we would have about the results, and think about further extensions for each paper we discussed in class.

  •  Ways to improve: None. Among the top two courses I have taken thus far.

  • Michelle Jiang is the best professor I have had at Columbia. She is extremely kind and understanding of her students, creates a welcoming and engaging classroom environment (students are always asking additional questions out of interest), and her course is as conducive to learning as possible by being very low stakes while still requiring a high degree of effort to complete assignments. Her teaching style is very easy to understand, she will re-explain topics as much as is necessary, and is attentive to the attention span of her students without compromising course material. She is knowledgeable in her field, fielding many questions from the class and always providing more detail and value to the class material. She takes time to meet one on one with any student who needs, and is open to speak about careers or additional material or anything we need. Assignments are returned with detailed feedback. It's clear she actually cares about teaching, and this enthusiasm definitely translates to her students.