Simulating Governmental Effects on Economic Development, Hugh M. Cannon

Abstract

The purpose of this game is to help students understand the impact of various strategies of government intervention on the dynamic free-market processes stimulating economic development. The game simulates three developing economies. Within the economies, each of the students represents an independent economic entity, able to contribute labor, consume goods, and acquire wealth. In one economy, students are free to act independently, or to collaborate, to invest or save money, to innovate or produce conventional products. In the other two, their activities are constrained by "government" regulations, simulating contrasting strategies of import substitution and export promotion. In the end, students are evaluated according to the wealth they create. The three simulated economies pro-vide experiential evidence as a basis for discussing the relative merits of different strategies of economic development.