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SIMULATIONSEconomics simulation, free in your browser
An economics simulation lets you change one thing and watch the rest of the model respond, which a textbook graph can't do. PlayEcon has eleven of them, covering intro microeconomics and macroeconomics. They are free, need no signup, and each one opens straight from this page.
What makes it a simulation, not just a graph
A static diagram shows you one answer. A simulation shows you the rule that produced it. You set the inputs, the model works out the result, and you can run it again with different numbers. Do that a few times and you stop memorizing which way a curve shifts. You start predicting it.
Every simulation below has the same three parts: the things you set, the things you watch, and a short explainer that sets out the economics behind the model.
Microeconomics simulations
| Simulation | You set | You watch |
|---|---|---|
| Curve playground Play · Read | The position of the supply and demand curves, plus ready-made market scenarios | Equilibrium price and quantity |
| Market lab Play · Read | Double shifts, price ceilings and price floors | Shortages, surpluses, total revenue and cross elasticity |
| Cost & choice lab Play · Read | How much a firm produces | Marginal cost against marginal revenue, and where profit peaks |
| Structure lab Play · Read | The market structure, and how a monopoly is regulated | Price, output and profit under each structure |
| Thinking lab Play · Read | What to produce, and who specializes in what | The production possibilities frontier, opportunity cost and gains from trade |
Macroeconomics simulations
| Simulation | You set | You watch |
|---|---|---|
| Economy simulator Play · Read | The interest rate and government spending | GDP growth, inflation, unemployment and public approval, while news events hit |
| GDP lab Play · Read | Consumption, investment, government spending and net exports | Gross domestic product as the pieces add up |
| Multiplier lab Play · Read | A shift or tilt in the consumption function | Equilibrium output and the size of the multiplier |
| Inflation lab Play · Read | Money, demand and expectations | The price level and the inflation rate |
| Money lab Play · Read | The central bank's tool | The money market and the deposit multiplier |
| Policy lab Play · Read | The policy rate, using the Taylor rule | The transmission chain to spending, and the exchange rate |
If you only try one, make it the economy simulator. You run the central bank and the treasury together, and it is the hardest of the set to keep steady.
Run it like an experiment
A simulation teaches the most when you treat it like a lab, not a toy:
- Predict first. Before you touch anything, say what you expect to happen and why.
- Change one input at a time. Move two levers together and you can't tell which one did the work.
- Watch the whole system. A price ceiling doesn't just lower the price. Look at what happens to the quantity traded too.
- Go back to the theory. If the result surprised you, open the explainer and find the step you skipped.
Using economics simulations in class
The simulations are built for intro micro and macro courses at high school and first-year university. They work as a five-minute warm-up on a projector, a guided exercise where students predict and then test, or a homework check before a quiz. Everything runs in the browser, so there is nothing to install and no accounts to set up. For a ready-made activity, the market whodunits give students the evidence and ask them to name which curve moved.
What a simulation can't tell you
Each model is deliberately simple. It keeps the few relationships an intro course cares about and leaves out the rest, such as debt, politics, long lags and messy data. Treat these like a flight simulator, not a forecast. They build intuition for how the pieces move together, which is exactly what the exam is testing.
Set the interest rate, steer inflation and unemployment, and try to keep voters happy.
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