Why so Serious?

I thought a lot about what game designs may provide both entertainment and educational values to the player. I want my idea to be something simple enough that could be made into a board game, but complex enough to keep the player wanting to play it over and over again (akin to Oregon Trail).

In economics, one of the hardest areas I had comprehending was macroeconomic theory, and how certain policy options affect businesses and citizens. Also, I could barely comprehend certain ideas as inflation and how money markets operate. So I think a game where each player would control certain monetary (the Fed) and fiscal (governmental) policies, such as tariff's, buying foreign bonds, selling bonds would be a fun concept. It would be a competitive and strategic game simulating how countries react to situations.

Adding to this idea, I thought that there could be even more players that could act as businesses in those countries, competing in the world economy. With this addition, it would create a comparison of both micro and macro economic concepts, and show how they intertwine.

The biggest problem with this idea would probably be researching how the policies and markets work. I have a very rudimentary idea of how they work, but would require more in depth research to learn how to manage all of the variables required to make the game work.