Fed Watcher’s Handbook is on Amazon

The world is abuzz with talk about US Federal Reserve and whether it will raise interest rates in September. Interest rates have hovered near 0 percent since 2008, and a rate hike to .25% or .5% is possible. Analysts are asking basic questions: Is the economy strong enough? What do we make of economic problems […]

Why Digital Media Firms Need to be Fed Watchers

Over the course of about ten years of teaching economics and digital media at New York University (NYU), I developed a simulation of the Federal Reserve Bank that has proved useful in engaging participants in the study of economics, monetary policy, and how the US economy works. I developed it initially to make my macroeconomics […]

Meaningful Play and a Simulation of the Federal Reserve’s FOMC

In Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (2003), Salen and Zimmerman highlight the importance of significant interaction for developing a wide range of compelling games, simulations, and role-playing experiences. They argue that good games produce “meaningful play” for its participants and point to the relationship between actions they take and the outcomes that result in successful game experiences. The concept of meaningful play, while evasive at times, provides a useful starting point for analyzing the effectiveness of the FOMC simulation.