PlayEcon — Learn economics by playing

PlayEcon is a free, interactive way to learn introductory microeconomics and macroeconomics. Instead of staring at static textbook diagrams, you drag supply and demand curves until markets move, run a central bank and steer a whole economy, and solve market "whodunit" case files — while drilling the core exam topics with quizzes actually written to be readable.

Microeconomics — markets, firms & choices

• Supply & demand lab — drag the curves and watch equilibrium price and quantity move in real time.
• Elasticity drills — price elasticity of demand and supply, total revenue, and how a tax splits between buyers and sellers.
• Market whodunits — diagnose why a price moved from the clues in each case file.
• Firms & costs — marginal cost, marginal revenue, and the profit-maximizing quantity.

Macroeconomics — the whole economy at once

• Central bank simulator — set interest rates and try to keep inflation and unemployment in check.
• GDP & growth — build up gross domestic product from consumption, investment, government spending and net exports.
• Inflation & the price level — see how money, demand and expectations push prices up.
• Fiscal multipliers — trace how a change in government spending ripples through the economy.

Who it's for

PlayEcon is built for intro econ students, self-learners brushing up before an exam, and anyone who wants the intuition behind supply and demand, elasticity, GDP, inflation and monetary policy without wading through a textbook. Everything runs in the browser and is free to use.

The full interactive version needs JavaScript enabled — turn it on to drag the curves and run the simulators.