Excel in economics teaching

Virtual Symposium 2020

In June the Economics Network ran a virtual symposium on teaching Economics online with Excel, featuring nine presenters from a variety of institutions. It covered 1) using Excel simulations to teach Economics and 2) using Excel in teaching data-based subjects.

The archived materials from the event include videos, slides, workbooks and the recording of the two-hour live session.

Teaching economics with Excel

Teaching Macroeconomics With Excel is a set of workbooks, videos and guidance created by Humberto Barreto, DePauw University, published in 2016.

Our journal CHEER published several papers on using Excel and other spreadsheets as teaching tools, for example:

• Optimal Control Theory for Undergraduates Using the Microsoft Excel Solver Tool by Ernst Juerg Weber, 2007
• Simulating a Simple Real Business Cycle Model Using Excel by Toru Hokari et al., 2007
• "History Matters: Modelling Path Dependence on a Spreadsheet" by Chris Hand, 2006
• "Analysing the Effects of Excise Taxes Using Microsoft Excel" by J. Wilson Mixon, Jr. and Bradley N. Hopkins, 2006
• "A Trade War Simulation/ Experiment in Excel" by John Gilbert, 2005
• "Using Microsoft Excel in Principles of Economics" by J. Wilson Mixon, Jr and Soumaya Tohamy, 2000
• "Teaching Linear Programming using Microsoft Excel Solver" by Ziggy MacDonald, 1995

Teaching case studies

Steven Cook at Swansea University is using Excel to teach basic matrix algebra, helping students to check their own calculations. You can download his spreadsheet.

Soumaya M. Tohamy and J. Wilson Mixon Jr. of Berry College, USA use Excel's Solver to illustrate constant elasticity of substitution (CES) utility functions. Papers on implementing this and other models are available on their Economics in Excel site.

Downloadable models and workbooks

Look in our catalogue of online learning materials, especially worksheets and interactive tutorials. We host Richard Green's ten spreadsheets for use in teaching economics, which come with printable worksheets.

Introductory Economics Labs is a website with a set of standalone computer labs for an Introductory Economics course. The student uses Microsoft Word and Excel to answer questions. Students fill in a lab journal containing their answers. Completed journals can be printed or electronically submitted. Answer keys are available to instructors who must first obtain a password.

Creating web pages with Excel

Spreadsheet Converter is a cheap tool that converts an Excel worksheet into an interactive web page. The resulting page can be embedded in a VLE, read on mobile devices and can include interactive charts. See the case study.

Accessibility

The Civil Service publish a checklist for making spreadsheets accessible.