An Active Learning Tool for the Principles of Economics: The Allocation Exercise

Integrating active learning exercises into pedagogy has long been recommended for its impact on student motivation, retention, and depth of understanding. Despite the well-documented literature in this area, many economics classes are still conducted in the traditional “chalk and talk” mode. To facilitate change, this paper details an active approach to understanding the allocation of goods under different economic regimes. This allocation exercise is described, examples of handouts are provided and student responses to the exercise are summarized.