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Exploring Easter Island economics with Excel

Author

Listed:
  • Dalton, Thomas R.
  • Coats, R. Morris
  • Luccasen, R. Andrew

Abstract

Students learn more from doing than from viewing. By seeing and diagramming the relationships they have developed themselves, students learn more than by merely reading over what someone else has done. For the dynamic problems encountered in environmental and resource economics, Excel has a comparative advantage as a learning aid. We develop a simple, flexible Excel assignment to illustrate the Brander and Taylor (1998) model of the Easter Island economy. On Easter Island a crucial natural resource, the island's palm forest, was an open-access resource, leading to over harvesting and eventual societal collapse much like ordinary predator–prey models in biology. This paper guides instructors through an assignment using Excel to illustrate this dynamic. We also provide suggested extensions from the literature on Easter Island economics.

Suggested Citation

  • Dalton, Thomas R. & Coats, R. Morris & Luccasen, R. Andrew, 2015. "Exploring Easter Island economics with Excel," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 1-10.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ireced:v:18:y:2015:i:c:p:1-10
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iree.2014.10.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Tsigaris, Panagiotis & Wood, Joel, 2016. "A simple climate-Solow model for introducing the economics of climate change to undergraduate students," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 65-81.
    2. Eva Dziadula, 2018. "Applied Microeconomics Assignments for Health Economics," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 3(1), pages 134-152, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Active learning; Pedagogy; Easter Island; Tragedy of the commons; Excel assignments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A20 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - General
    • Q27 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Issues in International Trade

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