During my PhD at Purdue University, I taught Econ 210 (Principles of Economics) recitation in Fall of 2017, and one of the four sections of online Econ 251 (Microeconomics) in the Summer of 2019, for which I received the Krannert Certificate for Outstanding Teaching. I also served as a teaching assistant for undergraduate and graduate level courses, such as Money and Banking, Managerial Economics, Behavioral Economics and Econometrics.

Currently, I am a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT). I am teaching my third semester, and have taught three courses: 

• Labor Economics: This course introduces the major theories, institutions and policy issues related to how labor markets function. The labor market is one where human labor is bought and sold, and this human element differentiates it from the market for goods. Some of the policy-relevant topics we discuss include minimum wage laws, compensating wage differentials, unemployment and worker migration. We begin by exploring the concepts of neo-classical labor supply, labor demand and equilibrium. After analyzing the perfectly competitive neo-classical model and its predictions, we explore possible reasons for why the labor market we observe in the real world might deviate from these predictions. Factors such as human capital investments, work environment, risk aversion, institutional rigidities such as minimum wage laws, labor migration and frictions caused by job search motivate our subsequent discussions.

• Public Economics: This course examines the role of government in market economies. We explore the circumstances that lead to failure of the market mechanism, the consequent justification for government intervention, how we can use taxes to finance this intervention and how individuals respond to them. We establish the concepts of Pareto Efficiency and discuss the two fundamental welfare theorems which tell us that the market mechanism leads to efficient and equitable allocation of resources under certain strict (and mostly unrealistic) assumptions, without the need for government intervention. Then, we introduce real-world situations where the market mechanism market failures e.g., public goods, externalities and asymmetric information, and discuss how we need government intervention to address these issues. We explore why the government is required for the proper functioning of the healthcare and education sectors, environment protection. The second half of the course deals with how we pay for the services of the government, i.e., taxes. We discuss in detail different types of taxes, how they fare in terms of efficiency versus equity, how people respond to them and the intricacies of the United States tax system.

• Economics of Discrimination: This is an applied economics course that introduces intuitions and concepts relating to race and gender discrimination in the labor market. In the race section, we start with the history of racial disparities starting from 1860 and discuss how these evolved over the last century up to the present. Then, we differentiate between prejudice and statistical discrimination.  We introduce Becker's models, derive their predictions and discuss their implications. Then we discuss papers that have tested the validity of these predictions by using data. The gender section is structured similarly, starting with the historical context and evolution of gender disparities over the decades. We then introduce economic models of fertility and social norms to explain gender disparities and discuss empirical work that test these models. The assessments focus on being able to explain the causes and consequences of gender and racial disparities and discuss the possible impacts of hypothetical polices on these disparities.

"Words will not do justice to the excellence of this Professor. She is kind, understanding, and truly wants her students to succeed. The teaching was outstanding! She really prioritized understanding and gave frequent opportunities for questions. She has been such a great professor that I have recommended her class to many of my friends in the department. I hope very much to take another one of her classes during my time at Wesleyan. She is an excellent human and an outstanding teacher."

"This was one of the most clearly laid out and cohesive courses I have ever taken. I could see how all of the content related to each other. I also loved that this course really built on topics learned in ECON110; it’s really nice to be able apply that knowledge to real world scenarios."

"Amrita Sanyal was one of the best professor’s I’ve had at Wesleyan. I could tell in the beginning she was a little nervous, but she was so caring and supportive throughout the semester. She’s extremely understanding, and definitely has a passion for teaching and understanding her students. I highly recommend her to my peers."

"Professor Sanyal is extremely knowledgeable and is one of the kindest people at the university. I had some personal issues at the beginning of the semester and she was nothing but helpful and supportive during this time."

"Professor Sanyal cared a ton about her students and making sure they felt heard and understood all of the topics in the class."