SCARCITY AND STRATEGY

This simulation presents the traditional economic model discussed by Adam Smith in his 1776 classic first work of modern economics, The Wealth of Nations. Competitive industries produce homogeneous goods and offer them on a market where demand and supply determine sales and inventories. The computer program combines the results of all business firms to establish employment,price,wage and growth statistics for the macroeconomy. Microeconomic studies address the competitive small firm (in the entrepreneur game) and the impact of monopoly. Macroeconomic studies allow manipulation of a 200 year business cycle by use of spending, cetral bank, pricing and labor market policy decisions.

Scarcity and Strategy uses an eight industry model for a product market in which industries adjust production levels and prices to attain profitability. The labor markets operate to determine employment levels and wages. Labor supply for three different skill levels is preprogrammed into the simulation scenarios, but may be changed by participants. A rudimentary monetary system responds to wage and central bank changes in the money supply. A government sector allows simple monetary and fiscal policy decisions.

Participants will find, after a short period to study the simulation, that the inherent complexity of economic activity is simplified. Decision making and its results may be studied since the simulation may be returned to a year prior to the policy choice and run forward without the policy. Competition among individuals and groups is possible since the macroeconomy has an economic progress score attached to the business cycle and the entrepreneur game will identify the profit level that results from the management of a firm. Obviously, the competitors must begin with exactly the same conditions and run the same number of years for an accurate comparison.

An old joke describes how economists carefully study and possibly overemphasize the areas of economic activity that may effectively be understood 'where the light is good'. We are reluctant, as scientists, to consider areas shrouded in darkness. The purpose of Strategy and Scarcity is to shine a new light.


ORIGINS AND BACKGROUND


Scarcity and Strategy originated from a dissatisfaction with the blind spots in economic theory. As an economics professor at tiny Park College in the 1970's, I was continually explaining to students the system and blackboard model workings which assumed the process of movement from one time period to another. Models always truncate reality, thus the base question for the scientific enterprise is the quality of relevant models. The issue for me became whether many blackboard models had assumed much of what they attempted to illustrate, or narrowed the condition to be explained so thoroughly that the model slept on a Procrustean bed. Moreover, the microeconomy is the basis of any macroeconomy and their separate treatment in theory belies a potential structural flaw in our overall approach.

In any event, Adam Smith's basic model of a market system, which establishes prices by bargaining with supply and demand, seemed an excellent place to begin year to year movement studies. A moving model requires identification of many assumptions, procedures and mechanisms, usually quietly skipped, in order to program a computer. Initial work on this elaborate system began during my sabbatical year of 1980. I soon realized that to construct a moving model of a theoretical market economy, the general equilibrium models of Leon Walras must be moved forward from one time period to the next. Skeptical assessments of the viability of such a project were frequent, since given any substantial model, a large number of calculations were necessary. The newly available technology of the personalcomputer was a critical aid. The ideas of Russian mathematician Leonoid Kantorivich and the input- output tables available were helpful. Computers of that time could solve the necessary equations in twelve seconds - a success then, but much more elaborate models today solve in a millisecond.

Unfortunately, the simulation of Adam Smith's market economy required a computer programmer and a great deal of time. By 1988, I had left teaching and the demands of life were many. The big project died for lack of money, programming talent, development ideas and time. The computer program sat in a box on the back porch for 13 years. In 2001 , as I neared the age of 60, the determination to complete this major task returned, in the hope that it would be a useful contribution to the economics profession. Brian Vogl, a fine programmer and a good friend , has brought the technical side to life with charts and colors and code. The motivation in this effort was always a fascination with the possibility of understanding movement in economic models and therefore the potential for effective economic policy. Now that we have built a welfare state atop the market system, it is useful to model what may have happened, since our ability to delude ourselves about the positive aspects of our political schemes does not change from one generation to the next. It is rather surprising, in this huge world, that any research project would still be viable after 40 years. Then again, given the time in development, the knowledge necessary of economic models and the lack of monetary returns, this is the sort of basic science effort that may be overlooked. I believe both students and professors will enjoy the new challenges posed by this model.

Dr. Steve Sturdevant
February, 2020