STUDENT LEARNING ON A MULTISTAGE MARKET SIMULATION

Simulations are widely used to teach economic principles and to provide students experience in decision making. This paper describes and evaluates a simulation exercise that helps students understand public policy impacts in a multistage market. Student teams of producers, marketers, and processors use information on costs and demand in negotiations to determine prices and quantities. Selected public policies such as marketing orders with price discrimination are implemented and analyzed. The simulation exercise improved student understanding of marketing orders and policy impacts on prices, quantities, and profits in a multistage market. Financial outcomes in the simulation were related to student learning as evidenced by exam scores.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,