trade game is a simulation game and it
has a very simple setup students are
divided up in groups each group
represents a different country in a
country with the certain characteristics
there are two rich countries, one
middle-income and two poor countries. And students don't know that so they are
divided up in groups and they receive an
envelope and in the envelope you have
some items so you have some money you have some sheets of paper you have some
shapes, you have some tools. Not everybody gets everything; the idea behind that
it's a very simple setup and yet is
informative it's intriguing and it's
something that students get captured by
early on in during the course so the
game starts by trying to understand what
can be done with what they have.
Invariably rich countries will be rich
in technology and money but will not
have the raw materials and poor countries will have a lot of materials but
no technology so that is establishing
something that in in the game needs
or is the basis for interaction for
negotiating for seeing how much it takes
to get technology or what is the
exchange rate, if we want, between
technology and raw materials. So relative
prices is one of the concepts that is
important. Theoretical concepts: assumptions, rationality, profit
maximization or utility maximization
that are typical of economic thinking is
something that we produce in a realistic
sense in a setup which is light enough
for students to be comfortable. Here at NYU Florence we customize the
international trade game. We decided that could have been a phase a preliminary
phase of entering into the atmosphere or
creating an atmosphere for the game
and creating t-shirts so these are
simple t-shirts that students wear at
the beginning on the game one color
per group gives a visual distinction
across groups so it gives an identity
to a group gives a sort of group spirit
a team spirit within the group and the
lines the differences there are across
groups so there is a liturgy of
distinction if you want when we record
the international trade game we
understand what type of interactions is
a better way to keep track of the
interactions that are going on. We have
money
that rather than being cutout
black-and-white photo copies are
something that gives visually the
different values and reminds us of some
important characters and then finally
we've created some personalised
templates against which the products
need to be compared. We'll give money
only if the students see that they
actually conform to the specifications
that they need. It has the first phase in
which the students need to assess what
they have and there are aspects of
disappointment of course the poor
countries will think that they had in an
uneven distribution so they get
some get upset there is a phase in which
having accepted that there is an uneven
distribution of resources and technology
throughout the world they realize that
they can use that inequality to their
advantage so they have to do make the
best out of what they have and that is
where we as leaders we encourage them to
move around and the second phase is a
phase of information gathering
recognition trying to understand what
with what they have they can meet what
other nations have.
And that is also phase in which if you
want behavioral economics comes in
because depending on the personalities
of the students in various groups there
is a sort of natural propensity to form
a coalition so the best outcome that we
can have is one in which the rich and
the poor country manage to find a way
of forming a sort of customs union or a
way of free trade area in which they
exchange one richness for another raw
materials against against technology in
interaction you see that the background
the cultural background of students
comes up and that is interesting because
it is an additional natural contribution
to the game having different approaches
to negotiation for example. It's
interesting to see how different
backgrounds interpret interaction
interpret negotiation. Investment
decisions whether they were successful
or unsuccessful is something that is
measured by the economic outcome but it
could be related and it is important
that is related to the amount of
information and the type of information
that the students have during the game. From
my point of view it is a very important
moment in which at the very beginning of
the semester I manage to look at
personalities and what type of
interaction students may have once we
put the more substantive material on the
table so I'm gaining the first glimpse
at what class dynamics there will be
when we discuss issues. The debriefing is
really important so at the end of the
game we give the students an assessment
of how they they did both in absolute
terms (how much money they have at the
end of the game) but we stress the
initial conditions, so where students
started from first they recognize that
but that is easy
which type of country they were and it
is important during the debriefing to
establish a sort of causal connection
between how well they did in the game
and their strategy and how much positive
behavior they put in depending on their
strategies I think that the students
learn interaction through understanding
what their roles are and so
understanding what their personal
incentives can be met or enhanced by
cooperating with with other groups
