Progress: An Experiential Exercise in Development Marketing

Abstract

The purpose of this game is to help students understand the dynamic role free-market processes play in stimulating economic development. The game simulates a developing economy. Each of the students represents an independent economic entity, able to contribute labor, consume goods, and acquire wealth. It is played in periods, with each one representing a cycle of production and consumption. Students are free to act independently, or to collaborate, to invest or save money, to innovate or produce conventional products. In the end, they are evaluated according to the wealth they create. More important, they experience the combined effect of their decisions in creating wealth for society as a whole.