Role Playing in the History of Economic Thought

Active learning has been widely recognized as central in a student's mastery of a subject (Angelo and Cross 1993; Pascarella and Terenzini 1991). One type of active learning is role playing, which has been used effectively in a variety of fields. For example, Bhawuk (1990) discusses it as a technique to foster cross-cultural awareness; Smokowski (1992) describes its use in psychodrama; and McCaughey (1991) describes its role in exploring acute psychological distress. Role playing is also widely used in studying economics and evaluating social policy options (Williams 1992; Hester 1991; and King and LaRoe 1991). It has also been part of a number of experiments reported in this journal (Leuthold 1993; DeYoung 1993; Bell 1993; Fels 1993). Most closely related to the topic of this article is the example used by Brooks (1985) in a history of psychology course. 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.