Tuesday, December 20, 2011

An Economist's Dreidel

Happy first night of Hannukah day fellow economics lovers. If you have enjoyed my previous Hannukah posts like the miracle PPF or the Economics Hannukah Song with musical arrangement by Jodi Beggs here is a little treat for you.

The economist's dreidel.

Like the regular dreidel it has four sides. But instead of the hebrew letters symbolizing the four words a Great Miracle Happened There, we have Consumption, Investment, Government Spending and Net Exports or C, I, G and NX the four parts of GDP.

The rules.

1.At the start of each round each player must put one penny into the pot.
2. If C is spun then like gimmel the player gets to consume all of the pot, except unlike regular dreidel there is a government that takes 10% of all earnings. Start a new round.
3. If I is spun then the player must invest 1 penny in the pot
4. If G is spun then the player gets all the money in the government pot. Unless that player currently has the most pennies in which case the money goes to the poorest player.
5. If NX is spun all players must give the spinner 1 penny.
6. Unlike regular dreidel at the start of each turn the spinner can elect to auction off his or her spin to the highest bidder.


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