Simulations in Principles of Microeconomics
Eight experiments and games for learning economics that can be run online or in class. The book is free and the instructor resources can be accessed with an instructor login to the CORE site (which is free). The games are run on the ClassEx platform and each comes with homework questions and suggestions for further reading.
Free virtual stockmarket using real data and trading a sum of imaginary US dollars. Players can compare their strategies against each other. Players can choose from thousands of stocks and mutual funds and can create market-open or market close orders.
IndustryMasters is a server-based, real-time business simulation. In this simulation/business game, players invest in a wide variety of businesses with virtual capital; they then have to design pricing, marketing, HR, sustainability and other strategies to generate profits, shareholder value and grow their share price, so practice can be extended. Anyone can join and play for free, but or academics and corporate education programs, site licences are available, with specially customised private worlds, where macroeconomic scenarios can be developed and played out depending on specific needs. Main economic principles built into the model include: Industry Competition, Market Crowding and Real Life Business Dynamics; Supply and Demand, Price Mechanism and Perfect Market modelling; Product Life Cycle, Economies of Scale and Scope; Corporate and Business Unit Strategy; Porter's 5 Forces and Generic Strategies; Benchmarking concepts Although the public game is a US dollar based game, UK sterling accounting versions are available on request.
This game software and accompanying website are free to use for lecturers. The game "is a simulated market environment in which up to eight teams each compete in any of four markets, choosing which market(s) to enter, how much production capacity to build, what prices to charge, and how much output to produce. The markets differ in their fixed versus marginal costs of production, sunk entry costs, size, degree of product differentiation, growth rates, and storage characteristics. Each firm knows its own costs in each market and the distribution from which all firms' costs are drawn. The Game is useful for teaching basic economic concepts such as sunk, fixed, and marginal costs, the opportunity cost of investment, firm- and market-elasticities of demand, and product differentiation. It also is immediately applicable to discussions of entry deterrence, first-mover advantages, preemption, competitive advantage, predation, oligopoly coordination, multimarket contact, signalling, information asymmetries, and end game issues in finitely repeated games."
A set of interactive games and simulations that are played in the browser. The tutor chooses a game and a number of players, then is given unique logins to distribute to learners. 14 games are played against the computer. In the other 47 games, learners play against each other.
A set of configurable, graphically appealing, online interactive games that work across laptops, iOS (Apple) and Android devices. Instructors can customise the games, or use default settings, and students join by entering a class code. The instructor gets a graphical analysis of outcomes immediately at the end of the session, for use in class discussion. The site has course guides that suggest how to sequence the games in different Economics courses, and each game has references to relevant papers. The site's apps can also be used to administer individual survey or assessment questions online.
A free stock market simulation, designed for secondary education, in which participants trade a virtual $100,000 on the US stock market.
A library of interactive digital activities based on case studies to illustrate situations including negotiation, Prisoners' Dilemmas, and optimisation. Each activity is labelled with an intended duration from 10 to 45 minutes and the software provides an automated debrief. This is a commercial site that charges per learner per activity.
Beat The Market Online contains simulation games and exercises designed to teach Principles or Introductory level Microeconomics as well as Managerial Economics. The goal is to maximize profits in one or more of the market structures including Perfect Competition, Monopoly, Monopolistic Competition or Oligopoly. Accompanying exercises cover a range of topics including market equilibrium, demand, elasticity, production, costs, and revenue maximization. The simulation games and exercises are all automatically graded and provided to the Instructor online with progress reports. An online consultant helps guide students. Students may compete against each other or computer managed firms as individuals or in teams. The simulation manages the entire process for the Instructor. Learning levels enables the Instructor to teach either principles or introductory economics by limiting the number of decisions to four or less. Data from the simulation, both cross sectional and time series, can be exported to Excel.
Iowa Electronic Markets (IEM) is an online futures market where contract payoffs are based on real-world events such as political outcomes (including the US Presidential election), companies' earnings per share (EPS), and stock price returns. It is run as a non-profit educational and research project by faculty at University of Iowa, Henry B. Tippie College of Business. Most of the markets use real money, although there is a free practice market. The site includes instructor resources, research papers based on their experience and a trader's manual.
