Macro Monopoly : Applying Game-Based Economic Development Lessons

This series of in-class activities utilizes a familiar favorite, Hasbro's Monopoly board game, in order to demonstrate economic development concepts that are common to most principles level macroeconomics courses. The basic Monopoly game rules are rigged in a variety of iterations to provide opportunities for a robust classroom discussion as well as authentic student engagement. The abbreviated method of play and simplified rules allow this author's version of using Monopoly as a game-based learning experience to be offered in almost any type of course structure: face-to-face, hybrid and online. In each experimental simulation, students practice learning-by-doing and connect with theories about income distribution, initial endowments, wealth and income inequalities, intergenerational transfers, imperfect information, and risk aversion. Ultimately students will uncover how an economy's rules of the game, institutions, and resource allocation methods factor into producing outcomes which may not be found to be fair or envy-free