Interactive Simulations for Intermediate Microeconomics

I teach intermediate microeconomics at Michigan State University in formats ranging from large in-person lectures to fully online asynchronous courses. Across these contexts, a common challenge persists: students often struggle to connect abstract economic theories with real-world applications and to visualize how economic systems respond to change.

To address this, I have developed a comprehensive suite of interactive simulations that allow students to manipulate economic variables and immediately observe the consequences through dynamically updating graphs and numerical feedback. These tools transform passive learning — where students memorize static textbook diagrams — into active exploration where they can test "what if" scenarios, build economic intuition, and develop genuine understanding of cause-and-effect relationships.

How They Work

Each simulation features sliders, dropdowns, and toggles that let students adjust key economic parameters — demand elasticity, production costs, tax rates, market structure, and more. As students manipulate these variables, graphs update in real time, showing how equilibrium prices change, how welfare outcomes shift, and how different economic agents are affected. Students receive immediate visual and numerical feedback, enabling self-correction and iterative learning.

The collection covers the full intermediate microeconomics curriculum:

• Supply and demand analysis

• Consumer choice theory

• Production and cost analysis

• Perfect competition

• Monopoly and pricing strategies

• Price discrimination

• Game theory and oligopoly models

• Externalities and public goods

Access the Simulations

All simulations are freely available at the link below. They run in any modern web browser on laptops, tablets, or smartphones — no software, downloads, or installations required. Each file is self-contained and can be downloaded for use in your own course.

► Open the Interactive Simulations Collection

Instructors are welcome to use, adapt, and redistribute these materials for educational purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 license.

A Note on How These Were Built

The programming and technical implementation of these interactives was accomplished in collaboration with Claude (Anthropic's AI assistant), which handled HTML/JavaScript coding, graphing solutions, and debugging. The pedagogical design, economic content, teaching strategies, and assessment of learning outcomes are my own work. I view this human-AI collaboration as a model for how technology can enable educators to create resources that neither human nor AI could accomplish as effectively alone.

Feedback Welcome

These interactives continue to evolve. If you use them in your teaching or learning, I would love to hear about your experience — feedback helps me continue improving these tools for the broader economics education community.

Professor Steven Matusz Department of Economics, Michigan State University matusz@msu.edu