Economic experiments allow the K-12 teacher to promote active learning that is also rigorously grounded in economic theory. In an experiment students test for themselves the economics they hear in lectures and read in their textbooks. The authors have found that working through the existing...

A classroom experiment is an effective device to introduce and illustrate new economic concepts. This paper describes the author's experience implementing the classic double oral auction experiment in a high school computer lab, in four classes, with students trading in a virtual market for...

U.S. Government debt relative to the size of the economy has risen to the point where it is likely to be interfering with real economic growth. Short-run fiscal policy has deteriorated from being counter-cyclical to pro-cyclical. The decline in the quality of U.S. fiscal institutions calls for...

The US government debt is now in uncharted waters. From the founding of the nation until 1968, government debt moved up and down without a trend, but over the past 50 years, debt relative to the size of the economy has increased continuously. The United States does not appear to have a coherent...

This paper analyzes how the interaction of public and private debt influences economic growth. Both debt variables are treated as endogenous and subject to regime switch, with the interaction term being the threshold variable. We test whether this interaction variable causes a nonlinear...

Public debt has surged during the current global economic crisis and is expected to increase further. This development has raised concerns whether public debt is starting to hit levels where it might negatively affect economic growth. Does such a tipping point in public debt exist? How severe...