 Hello everyone and welcome to Econ 397LE Liars Economics. The purpose of this video is to tell you a little bit about myself and then a little bit about the course. My name is Jackson Allison and I'm a third year graduate student in the Econ department here at UMass. I majored in economic history and take my teaching responsibilities very seriously. This course is special. It will introduce students to big lies reproduced by big data, bridging from statistical traps to historical analysis to split-second irrational decision-making to fake news to our blind trust in the scientific. It will introduce students to skeptical and effective consumption and production of information in the area of big data. In short, we will try to think and act like economists and enlighten others about the way the world works. This course uses a module framework. Once each module is done, that's it. It's over. This means that there's no final project or assignment or exam for the course, just a final assignment, among other things, in each module. This specific course is split into six different modules, one module per week. There will be a writing assignment and a discussion forum due in each section. The discussion forum is always due at 11.59pm on Thursdays. The assignments are always due at 11.59pm on Sundays. The assignments are available in each individual section. Further, at the beginning of each section, you will find an introductory video in which the content for each week is introduced. Finally, each assignment is available in each module. To access each assignment, you'll have to enter the module folder and then go to the assignment folder. This is going to be a great course. I'm looking forward to it. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or email me. My email is on the cell of us.