Adam's Capitalist Piglets by Peter Lyons

A hands-on interactive game/simulation designed to illustrate to students the function of prices in allocating resources to different types of production.

• Can be used with 6-30 participants.
  
  

• Suitable for students in New Zealand from years 10-13 studying economics.
  
  

• Appropriate for the teaching of economics at International schools.

Students work in groups of 3 to 4 students. Each group starts with $80 and the aim is to make the most profit by the end of the activity.

Students buy resources from the market which are used in production. The groups can then sell the outputs back to the market to make a profit.

Key learning objectives for students are:

• To determine the resources used for production.
  
  

• To understand how resources are shifted according to price signals in markets.
  
  

• To determine the factors that affect prices for resources and final products.

This simulation can be used as a practical way in which to impart the fundamental features of a market system which is that:

In a free market or capitalist system, the function of markets is to set prices based on supply and demand. Prices act as signals to producers telling them what to produce. Resources are shifted as a result of price changes. Producers are motivated by profit.