WIPOSIM – The economic policy online simulator
Timespan: 10/2019 – 08/2022
The project is managed by Prof. Dr. Eckhard Hein (HWR Berlin) and Prof. Dr. Achim Truger (University of Duisburg-Essen).
Research fellows: Dr. Alessandro Bramucci (HWR Berlin), Franz Prante (University of Duisburg-Essen).
Funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation.
About
The goal of the project is the extension of an interactive paradigm-oriented simulator of basic macroeconomics and of the accompanying online text developed in a previous project (MGWK). We focus on current problems and challenges of modern economies in three selected areas of interest for macroeconomic policy: financialisation and income distribution, fiscal policy and public debt, ecology and macroeconomics. Extending our basic models and simulator in order to address these areas, we develop a set of macroeconomic models to simulate economic policy strategies from different perspectives.
Modelling is based on behavioural equations and identities. For some models, particular attention is paid to stock-flow consistency. In addition to simple didactic models, more complex models are developed to represent the characteristics of real economies in the form of stylized scenarios. For example, a model allows the simulation of country-specific macroeconomic demand and growth regimes and of the regime changes after the 2007-09 crisis. As in the previous project, interactive web applications are programmed to visualize models and scenarios where individual parameters and variables can be changed interactively.
The paradigm-oriented economic policy simulator and the accompanying online text are intended to provide orientation for a new generation of macroeconomists but also for economic policy advice to politicians and trade unionists. Ultimately, the intention is to contribute to an opening of the scientific and economic policy discourse.