To Work or Not to Work … That is the Question: Labour Market Decisions in the Classroom

This paper presents a simple classroom experiment for first-year university students of introductory economics, about participation in a competitive labour market. The students are designated as workers and the lecturer/tutor represents the numerous employers in this experiment. The experiment is run for several periods, each period representing different conditions in the labour market. During each period, workers must decide whether or not to offer their labour services based on the information they have at hand. We find that this participatory approach to teaching basic labour market concepts is not only well-received by students, but that it is just as effective at promoting students' retention and understanding.