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Title	Grading, class selection and work in theory and practice at Amherst
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Type	Thesis
Length	50 Pages
Area	Economics
Advisor	Geoffrey Woglom
Composed	2006
Summary	The subject of grading should intrigue any economist. Grades in school have a lot in common with our favorite thing (money) – grades send behavior-influencing signals just like prices, grade inflation is almost as terrifying as regular inflation – but there are important differences, too. Giving out grades isn’t a zero-sum game in the same way as passing out dollar bills is, so the cost of giving out high grades may be lower than it ought to be. And, unlike the wage scale, the grade scale is capped above, which means that what’s commonly called “grade inflation” is really more like “grade compression” and raises a whole slew of interesting questions that don’t come up in the context of monetary inflation. This paper attempts an analysis of the problems involved in grading and considers how same can help us understand grading at Amherst College.