Role Playing in the History of Economic Thought

A c t ive learning has been widely re c og n i zed as central in a student’s mastery of a subject (Angelo and Cross 1993; Pa s c a rella and Te renzini 1991). One type of a c t ive learning is role play i n g, wh i ch has been used effe c t ive ly in a va riety of fi e l d s . For ex a m p l e, B h awuk (1990) discusses it as a technique to foster cro s s c u l t u ra l awa reness; Smokowski (1992) describes its use in psych o d rama; and McCaughey (1991) describes its role in ex p l o ring acute psych o l ogical distress. Role playing is also widely used in studying economics and eva l u ating social policy options ( Williams 1992; Hester 1991; and King and LaRoe 1991). It has also been part of a number of ex p e riments rep o rted in this journal (Leuthold 1993; DeYoung 1993; Bell 1993; Fels 1993). Most cl o s e ly re l ated to the topic of this art i cle is the ex a mple used by Brooks (1985) in a history of psych o l ogy cours e. In each case, role playing is a part of the course experience for students, usually intertwined with other, more traditional academic experiences. In no case was it the exclusive technique used in the delivery of course material. In this article, I describe a history of economic thought (HET) course built entirely on a role-playing model. This course places unusual demands on students and faculty but has led to a remarkable student engagement with the subject matter.