By: Chloe Gamber, Head Academic Writer
Images retrieved from Professor Abrams
If you want to learn about economics through creative and exciting methods, you should speak to Professor Abrams! Eric Abrams, the Associate Professor of Economics, teaches a unique course that is listed as ECO 300, or Economics of Pizza & Victuals, and many more courses at McKendree. Economics of Pizza & Victuals covers the “examination of the pizza and food industries. Topics covered will include identifying profitable pricing solutions, conducting market analyses including demand analysis and industrial organization, and analyzing policy and regulatory effects,” as stated in the course catalog. You are able to learn outside of the classroom as well with field trips to local pizza restaurants such as Peel Wood Fired Pizza and visiting Abrams’s place, where he has built his pizza oven. For more information about the success of this course, you can visit the following article featured in the Belleville Democrat:
This article emphasizes how Abrams is a “Brainchild for pizzanomics.”
Abrams has developed a teaching style not only for this class but for every course he teaches that helps make economics more relatable to the students. Abrams specifically enjoys more theory-based discussions, which in itself can be seen through economics as a social science. This is a factor that allowed Abrams to easily decide that his passion was to become a professor in economics. When asking Professor Abrams about which course is essential for students, he explained how Principles of Microeconomics can benefit anyone due to how it covers business and consumer aspects of economics. This comes in handy because many students aspire to own businesses themselves one day. Abrams has more thought put into his teaching such as asking students for answers and not questions. When he sees a student on their phone, he simply asks them to look up information that is valuable to the lesson. This, along with other methods, are some things Abrams brings to every classroom to help students think, which is his goal. Overall, Abrams wants to have students understand why they have views and help them develop them. He also can relate to business ethics when it comes to cryptocurrencies and stocks. Abrams will simply tell you to not put all your eggs in one basket. By taking these courses, Abrams will help you develop your perspective of business ethics.
During school, Abrams studied engineering but chose to go into economics for graduate school because of his excitement for theory and analysis. He went to school in Iowa and then moved to Hawaii to work full-time for nine years in consulting companies. After this, he decided to stay near the midwest to be closer to family, and this is his seventeenth year at McKendree. Abrams is also very interested in Arthurian legends which is why he named his two golden retrievers Arthur and Lancelot.
Abrams aims to get students thinking, and this is exactly what we need to grow as individuals. McKendree is full of many inspiring professors, and students should take advantage of this time to reach out to professors such as Abrams to get the most out of their time as a student.
