The Desert Island Trading Game
www.desertislandgame.com
The Desert Island Trading Game
The Basic Game illustrates the concept of comparative advantage - the
idea that trade can benefit everyone involved, even if one party is worse
at doing everything than the other. But was this the result of a universal
principle, or just an artifact of the particular numbers used in the basic
game? Are there circumstances in which trade is not beneficial to both
parties? You can test some of these questions in the Advanced Fame. You
are still on the desert island, but this time you get to set the food
- gathering abilities of the two players. Some questions you might want
to explore include: Would you benefit if Ricardo became even more capable
than he was in the basic game? Would Ricardo be made worse off if you
became more capable than him? Is Ricardo a good negotiator? Does negotiation
affect the gains from trade?
Visit their website: http://www.desertislandgame.com
Services completed:
- Flash Design
The Desert Island Trading Game was developed in September, 2004. It was designed for the Institute for Humane Studies a division of George Mason University. The game is built in Flash Animation and used as a fun tool to teach the concept of comparative advantage to economic students. In the game, a player can adjust the fishing and coconut picking abilities and negotiate trades with the computer to see alternate outcomes.
