The Use of Computers in Economic Education: A Further Comment

Abstract

The purpose of this comment is to discuss one approach to the instructional use of computers in economics that merits consideration. Articles by Professors Lumsden [1], Joseph [2], Treyz [3], and Emery and Enger [4] in recent issues of this journal have brought this subject to the attention of the readers of this journal. In particular, I wish to illustrate how the computer can be used to supplement the intermediate macroeconomic theory course. Some of the illustrations are also appropriate for the macroeconomics portion of the principles of economics course at colleges where all students already know a computer programming language. Frequently when the computer is used in a macroeconomic theory course it is by means of a macroeconomic game or simulation. A computer program is written for a macroeconomic model and stored in the computer. The students then manipulate the model by selecting values for various policy variables, such as government spending, tax rates and the money supply. This does not require the student to know a computer programming language. An alternative approach to the use of computers in macroeconomic theory courses is the one which we have found to be most satisfactory at St. Lawrence University, which is a liberal arts college with 2,100 students in residence. With this approach the students write their own computer programs and run them on time-sharing computer facilities. As the course proceeds, the instructor presents the structure of a number of macroeconomic models that are amenable to computer programming. Numerous versions of the Keynesian system can be programmed by the student quite easily as can the model of the interaction of the multiplier and the accelerator. Also, the Domar and Harrod growth models can be programmed.with success. Often students experiment with changing some of the values of the parameters of the model as well as some of the functional relationships in order to see what happens under different circumstances. The students write the computer programs using BASIC, a popular language which can be learned in relatively few hours through self-instruction or with the aid of an instructor. There are over a dozen books (mostly paperbacks) about computer programming in BASIC. Although few of these books are constructed in the form of a programmed text, most are designed so that the student can teach himself how to write computer programs in BASIC if there is someone (often another student) available to help out at times. At St. Lawrence students are offered short noncredit courses in BASIC three or four times each semester. This course involves no more than eight hours of instruction. In the macroeconomics course I devote three hours to computer instruction and find that to be sufficient time to cover the necessary aspects of BASIC; I leave out the more advanced refinements in the language. Additional time is required of the student as he experiments with using the computer, but the upper limit here is equal to the number of hours of instruction that the student receives in class. It is also true that many students already know BASIC before they take the macroeconomics course, either from high school or from previous experience in college. In addition, some students already know the computer language called FORTRAN, and it is very easy for these students to learn BASIC because there are many similarities between those languages. The computer facilities required to run the programs are modest nowadays as the cost of purchasing small computer systems has been falling and as the opportunities