Class record · ECON · MCAS

ECON 3391

Economics of Energy and the Environment · 1 instructor on record · 6 sections

What the course score is made of

86BC evaluations6 records · weight ×1.0 · Spring 2022 – Fall 2025

—Student reviewsno reviews — does not contribute

—RateMyProfessorsno ratings — does not contribute

That is the class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it. Who taught it, and how each of them scored, is the board below — that is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between.

What the challenge rank is made of

70thMore challenging than 70% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

94BC — “Intellectually Challenging”6 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question for this class only — students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it measures intellectual challenge and NOT grading, workload or quality. Almost every BC class scores high on it, which is why it is shown as a rank rather than a score.

What the workload rank is made of

39thMore work than 39% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

50BC — “Workload”6 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College reports workload for this class only as one of five bands, not as a number of hours, and it does not publish what the bands mean — so this site will not translate it into hours. Higher means more work, which is not the same as worse.

This course provides an overview of recent research in energy and environmental economics, with an emphasis on connecting policy questions of interest to available data and econometric methods. In the context of specific markets, we will first review the theoretical justifications for government intervention. We will then turn to the empirical evidence to see what recent economic scholarship has to say about a variety of energy policy questions, including: Should we ban fracking? Do oil pipelines reduce property values? What is the best way to promote renewable energy? Should we be more energy efficient? Students will be required to read and discuss academic articles each week, as well as write an empirical term paper.

The only instructor on record

6 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record

Instructor	Overall	Workload	Challenge	RMP overall
Richard SweeneyEconomics	896 records	39th	70th	603 ratings · all classes

There is no ranking to read here: Richard Sweeney is the only instructor with evaluation records for ECON 3391, so the number is a record, not a position. The RateMyProfessors figure is their overall score across everything they teach, not their score in this class.

Also taught by Richard Sweeney

6 other classes

Class	Instructors	Course score
ECON 9900Third Year Thesis Workshop	1440 records	91
ECON 9902Fifth-Year Thesis Workshop	1440 records	96
ECON 9901Fourth Year Thesis Workshop	1436 records	94
ECON 8854Industrial Organization II	410 records	94
ECON 2277Environmental Economics and Policy	26 records	86
ECON 8852Topics in IO: Behavioral and Environmental Applications	22 records	70

Other ECON classes

All of them

Class	Instructors	Course score
ECON 1101Principles of Economics	46223 records	73
ECON 2228Econometric Methods	33131 records	71
ECON 1151Statistics	2797 records	72
ECON 2202Macroeconomic Theory	2072 records	69
ECON 2201Microeconomic Theory	1967 records	71
ECON 9900Third Year Thesis Workshop	1440 records	91

The line

All 13 items · means across 6 records

The Professor4 items

Clearly Explains MaterialThe instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.

9238th pctl

Available Outside of ClassThe instructor was available for help outside of class.

9134th pctl

Brings Out Your Best WorkThe instructor motivated me to do my best work.

9135th pctl

Sparked My InterestThe course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.

9337th pctl

The Course3 items

Well-Organized CourseThe course was well organized.

9358th pctl

Clear Learning GoalsThe learning objectives for the course were clear.

9254th pctl

Useful Beyond the CourseWhat I learned is applicable beyond this course.

9245th pctl

Assignments & Feedback3 items

Assignments Help You LearnAssignments and exams contributed to my learning.

8726th pctl

Gives Feedback PromptlyI received feedback on my work in a timely manner.

9040th pctl

Meaningful FeedbackThe feedback I received on my work was meaningful.

8727th pctl

Workload, difficulty & attendanceNot ratings

WorkloadHow much work the course took outside class, on Boston College's five-band scale — the band boundaries are not published, so this is not a number of hours.

5039th pctl

Intellectually ChallengingThe course was intellectually challenging.

9470th pctl

Attendance MattersAttending class was necessary to do well in this course.

8937th pctl

Bar length is the rank against every comparable record we hold, not the raw score: BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so a raw-scale bar would be nearly full on every row and would tell you nothing. Every bar is one ink colour — nothing here is graded green or red. The hatched bars are not ratings at all: a higher number on either describes a different course, not a better one.

Game log

6 sections · newest first

Instructor	Term	Sec	Instr	Course	Work
Richard Sweeney	Fall 2025	01	94	89	40
Richard Sweeney	Fall 2025	02	89	87	40
Richard Sweeney	Fall 2024	01	80	76	60
Richard Sweeney	Fall 2024	02	83	81	60
Richard Sweeney	Spring 2023	01	93	91	40
Richard Sweeney	Spring 2022	01	94	90	60

How to read this boardInstructors are ranked on their record in this class only, never on their average across everything they teach. Scores are out of 100 — Boston College's 1–5 agreement scale, ×20, the way these numbers were printed for years. Workload is BC's own five-band figure, not a number of hours, and is shown as a rank. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero.