Playing at policy making: UNERSCO MGIEP’s Wealth Generator Game
Feature Article by Geetika Dang, Programme Analyst, Innovations Team, UNESCO MGIEP
Ever wondered how policymakers cope with catastrophic disasters? Disasters can be man-made or natural, though some argue that almost all disasters are, to some degree, the result of the former. A few would reason that we are, at this moment in time, and as a species and as a civilization, systematically working towards one of the most devastating disasters of all times—global warming.
What cannot be denied, however, are the social and economic impacts of any such disaster on education. When school infrastructure is destroyed due to a calamity, it is often noted that the schools are then moved to temporary structures which in many cases end up becoming permanent or semi-permanent over time. In areas of conflict, schools are one of the first structures converted into safe havens for fleeing civilians. These structures also over time become permanent shelters for the homeless.
A number of countries affected by natural disasters or conflicts have experienced the above narrative. The earthquake that shook Haiti destroyed or damaged some 4,000 schools. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, temporary learning spaces were set up in large tents with water and sanitation facilities adapted to children’s needs. These temporary tents were then over the next few years transformed into semi-permanent structures.
The earthquake that shook Haiti destroyed or damaged some 4,000 schools. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, temporary learning spaces were set up in large tents with water and sanitation facilities adapted to children’s needs. These temporary tents were then over the next few years transformed into semi-permanent structures.
Some would argue that education is acertained as not an essential service and takes a back seat in the advent of such a disaster. However, by stripping away the child’s access to education over an extended period of time we systematically reduce the economic opportunities of that child; and in doing so, indirectly, and somewhat ironically, decrease the economic potentiality of the country. But more importantly, studies strongly suggest that a school’s daily routine provides stability and comfort in unstable times, which are essential for a child’s mental health and cognitive development.
So, when a country is affected by crisis, why do policymakers repeatedly fail to ensure that education is and remains a priority? One school of thought is that a strained country, over an extended planning period, tries to cope with a disaster that has hit its economy and its people by maximizing economic growth — often measured in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
However, one of its shortcomings is that the GDP often classifies non-infrastructure related investments in education as expenditures. For example, building a school is considered an investment. However, directing resources towards teacher training is considered an expenditure. If we are to truly recover from disasters, it is essential that we take a more comprehensive approach by adopting more holistic indicators that show us the bigger picture. A prerequisite for such an indicator to be effective is for it to adequately capture the investments made in the productive base—the sum total of a country’s natural, human and manufactured capital.
The Inclusive Wealth Index (IWI) developed by Nobel Laureate Kenneth Arrow and the Blue Planet Laureate Sir Partha Dasgupta proposes accounting for such a productive base. The key advantage of capturing the productive base of an economy is that it makes sustainable development quantifiable and measurable. The indicator moves away from the tenous and always much debated discussion on what really constututes human well-being and focuses on the assets that a society needs to maintain or improve its well-being over time. Such an approach would treat funding for teacher training, which increases the productive base, as an investment rather than an expenditure. This was clearly shown in the Inclusive Wealth Report of 2014 which was produced by UNESCO MGIEP and other partners.
The next logical argument is one that supports the dissemination of the IWI through the education system. We at UNESCO MGIEP believe that students should be taught to think critically and to challenge existing paradigms. There is a growing body of literature that supports the efficacy of video gaming in ensuring experiential and transformative learning. Games such as iCivics that teaches civics, FoldIt that effectively exploits the “power of many” and Remission that helps young cancer patients with maintaining dialogue have all shown that the purview of impactful games that result in learning has both matured and magnified.
To this end, we have developed a digital simulation game, the Wealth Generator, which captures the essential elements of an economy using the Inclusive Wealth Index, and have used it as a learning and entertainment tool to play policy scenarios and observe potential outcomes.
The wealth generator simulation game starts from a randomized state of biodiversity with the player having a range of natural resources such as oil, forests, minerals and fisheries. The player then assumes the role of a policymaker and is asked to make various investment decisions on human capital, renewable natural capital and manufactured capital while ensuring that the player’s overall wellbeing is maintained or increased across generations. The goal of the game is to balance “Economic Growth” with “Sustainability”. The mechanics of the game have been woven around both the science behind GDP and IWI calculation.
Players are able to see the impact of their policy decisions over a 60-year period, which is divided over 12 planning periods of five years each and spanning across two generations. The engagement in the game is enhanced with inbuilt features such as natural calamities, including earthquakes and tsunamis, and how resource mobilization and capital stocks are hit in such times. The game also has event-based shocks like flash floods and oil spills that occur based upon the previous actions of the player. Additionally, keeping the game close to real life mechanics, it has an inbuilt feature of carbon emissions that, again, pans out based on the policy decisions of the player.
The goal of the game is to balance “Economic Growth” with “Sustainability”. The mechanics of the game have been woven around both the science behind the GDP calculation as well as the calculation of the IWI.
Viewing the impact of policy decisions that potentially increase or decrease overall wellbeing, not only for the current generation but also for future generations, results in three strong outcomes. Firstly, the pedagogy being intuitive, visual and fun ensures that policymakers and students, who don’t have exposure to economics as such, are able to understand the IWI. Secondly, the player is able to relate to the nature of the impact certain policy decisions have in the long run. Thirdly, the player is able to navigate through times of disaster using a number of combinations of investment decisions, and thus learns about the impact of different policy instruments over the health of the economy as well as the environment — imbibing the efficacy of different investment approaches.
This game, we believe, has come around at the right time when the UN has agreed on the post-2015 agenda and has finalized the “Sustainable Development Goals”, recognizing sustainable economic and social practices as the need of the hour. This game is targeted at the moment as a fun game for students at the undergraduate level. A more comprehensive teaching game on the IWI using the full 140 country database of the IWR is being presently built. This game will ideally be used as a classroom teaching tool for students taking classes in sustainable development and sustainability science. With all this in mind, we can only hope for a future that blossoms around sustainable economic policies that are based upon holistic indicators that truly measure the wellbeing of a nation-state and the world at large.