Economics with a Human Focus: Professor Genna Miller’s New Course Connects Theory and Community

Economics with a Human Focus: Professor Genna Miller’s New Course Connects Theory and Community

For Professor Genna Miller, economics is more than models and markets — it’s a way of understanding people. This spring, Miller brings that philosophy to life through her new community engaged course, Economics with Community-Based Clients (ECON 390S), where Duke students will serve as economic consultants for local organizations working toward the common good.

Supported by Duke’s Undergraduate Program Enhancement Fund (UPEF) — an initiative of Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and the Provost’s Office — Miller designed the course to help students connect economic theory with real-world practice. 

“I wanted students to see economics as a living, breathing discipline — one that can actually help communities,” she explains. “This course shows how the tools of economics can be used for good, not just for profit.”

Each student team will collaborate with one of three Durham-based partners: the Institute Community Development Initiative, focusing on affordable housing; the Latino Community Credit Union, exploring loan forecasting and risk analysis; and the Center for Responsible Lending, examining data access and housing equity. Their role is to analyze data, interpret findings, and propose solutions — translating academic learning into practical insight. “The projects are as diverse as the organizations themselves,” Miller says. “But the common thread is using economics to solve problems that matter.”

Turning Economics Into Action

Students will move through the full consulting process — from identifying client needs and gathering data to presenting recommendations at semester’s end. Along the way, they’ll learn not only analytical skills but also professional communication, teamwork, and adaptability.

“Economics students are used to having a clean dataset handed to them,” Miller notes. “Here, they have to ask, What data exists? What’s missing? What’s realistic for this organization? They’re learning to navigate ambiguity — which is what real work looks like.”

The course’s structure emphasizes reciprocity and reflection, two hallmarks of community engagement. Students are encouraged to consider not only what they’re contributing to community partners, but what they’re learning from them — about equity, access, and the social context of economic systems.

Miller hopes this process helps her students see the human side of data. “Behind every number is a person or a story,” she says. “When students realize that, economics becomes less abstract and more compassionate. They start to see how their skills can make a difference.”

Reframing What Counts as Economic Knowledge

Miller’s work builds on her long-standing research interest in gender, labor, and pedagogy. Her previous service-learning course, Social Inequalities and Low-Wage Work, invited students to explore structural inequities through partnerships with Durham organizations including Student U. Economics with Community-Based Clients extends that inquiry into the nonprofit and social enterprise sectors — places where students can witness how power, policy, and resources shape community well-being.

“In traditional economics, we often talk about efficiency and markets,” Miller says. “But what about fairness, access, and voice? Those are economic concerns, too.”

Her hope is that by engaging with real-world partners, students will leave with a deeper understanding of both the potential and limitations of economic analysis. “I want them to see that economics isn’t separate from values,” she adds. “Every model rests on assumptions about people — and those assumptions matter.”

Bridging Classroom and Community

By semester’s end, each student group will produce a professional report or presentation that the organization can use in its ongoing work. But Miller sees something deeper at stake than the deliverable.

“Students often come in thinking their value lies in having the right answer,” she says. “What they discover is that the process — the conversations, the collaboration, the empathy — is just as valuable. That’s when the learning really happens.”

Through this course, Miller hopes to inspire a new generation of economists who see community not as an external audience but as a partner in knowledge creation. 

“Economics can and should serve people,” she says. “When students experience that firsthand, it changes how they see the field — and maybe even how they see themselves.”