Description
In this simulation you play the role of the Commissioner of Agriculture for Pleasantville, the town in which Marge operates her Ostrich Burger restaurant. Your goal is to try to balance the needs of farmers and of consumers.
Ostrich farming is a competitive business, and many farmers struggle to make ends meet. You, as the Commissioner of Agriculture, have the power to institute a price floor. That is, you can mandate a minimum price for ostrich meat. As you know, a price floor set above equilibirum will lead to a surplus, and when faced with a surplus, producers lower price.
While you have the authority to impose a price floor, you do not have the power to legislate prices. The only way that you as Agriculture Commissioner can maintain your price floor (if it is above the equilibrium price) is to buy up the surplus ostrich meat.
Instructions
Browse the newspaper headlines given to you at the start to select an initial market condition. There are three levels of difficulty to choose from: easy, medium, and hard.
Your only input in this simulation is the price floor. When you set
a price floor (and then press Accept Values) the simulation will react
to your decision by showing you all relevant values in a table as well
as a satisfaction meter indicating how consumers, producers, and the government
feel about your decision. You have to decide how to manage these competing
interests. Play with the price floor slider and see how the market reacts.
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