Russian Students Set to Manage Economic Indicators in Simulator
Researchers have developed a computer-based simulator that lets students experiment with national economic policy.
A computer simulator called Upravlenie natsionalnoy ekonomikoy (National Economy Management) has been introduced at St. Petersburg State University of Economics. The system was developed jointly with the IT company Labius.
Virtual Economy
Developers have created an educational program designed to help students study macroeconomics through an interactive model of the Russian economy.
The program takes the form of a training game. Participants act as analysts at a macroeconomic forecasting center and prepare policy recommendations for the government and the central bank. They select economic tools and evaluate the consequences of their decisions in a virtual environment.
Players can, for example, accelerate GDP growth, reduce unemployment, or increase investment in manufacturing. At the same time, they must keep inflation under control and manage public debt. The simulator shows how economic indicators change after each decision.
System of Interconnected Models
The simulator is built around three macroeconomic theories: Keynesian, neoclassical, and a synthesized approach. The program incorporates fiscal, monetary, and exchange-rate policy mechanisms.
The system can model four macroeconomic markets and relies on more than fifty parameters. Tools available to students include the central bank’s key interest rate, reserve requirements, open market operations, exchange rates, tax rates, and government spending.
Students begin with a general overview of the structure of the economy. They then move on to analyzing macroeconomic equilibrium and the mathematical logic behind the calculations. The format is designed to develop analytical thinking and skills in working with econometric models.
For Universities
The methodological framework was developed by faculty at St. Petersburg State University of Economics. The concept was created by Anna Kamyshova, professor of economic theory, along with associate professors Marina Bochenina and Yulia Neradovskaya from the Department of Statistics and Econometrics. Denis Skripnichenko was among the project’s early initiators. The software itself was developed by Labius, with Petr Tutaev leading the engineering team.
The simulator is expected to be used in bachelor’s, specialist, and master’s programs. It will be incorporated into courses on economic theory, macroeconomics, the Russian economy, and econometrics. In the fall of 2026, university instructors will undergo training to work with the system.
The development will be presented on April 17 during a master class at the IX St. Petersburg National Forum Arkhitektura universitetskogo obrazovaniya (Architecture of University Education).
