Teaching environmental economics: A simplified tradable permit game

I taught a large introductory environmental economics course for many years. This class had 180 students. Many of those students had never had an economics class and many of them did not love math. We would have two large lectures every week, and then break the class into 30-person sections in which we would do games, solve problems, have discussions, and generally get more engaged with the material.

One year, the graduate student teaching assistant for the course, Donna Ramirez Harrington, and I decided we needed a game to help students really understand tradable permits that was easy to run with our population of students in a 50-minute section. We devised the game and published a paper about it. Over the years, various people have asked me for the files to help use the game in their own classes. I am happy to share those files, and now this website makes it easier.

The journal article: Ando, A.W. and D.R. Harrington. 2006. “Tradable Discharge Permits: A Student-Friendly Game.” Journal of Economic Education 37(4): 187-201.

Directions for the game: MSWord    pdf

Worksheets for students to use in class: MSWord   pdf

Excel spreadsheet with all the calculations relevant for the game (for instructor reference)

Excel spreadsheet to use to tally the trades in class during the game

PDF Presentation to give in class when the game is over

Worksheet to give to students who missed the game in class: MSWord pdf