How do you improve the Economy?

[sekin321]

Has anyone figured out what improves the economy/median wage? It doesn't seem improvement of education, minimum wage or taxes effects the economy. Am I missing something?

[Soggy Peach]

I'm unable to say for sure what improves the economy, as laws and tax rates and just about everything else gets changed wildly every year or two, when the cycle of a Democrat / Republican majority and Presidency happens.

[jfoytek]

My guess is nothing effects the economy and it simply increases at a set rate.

An attempt to make things like tax cuts or education benifits factor into the economy would skew the game into having a political bias. If you make tax cuts for instance have a positive effect then you show a republican bias and if you do the reverse you show a democrat bias. So about the only thing you can do is set the GDP to grow at X% and make all those law changes have no effect on it.

[Simonson [29th Ret.]]

Improving education has nothing to do with the economy. The only thing that affects the economy are policies which make the transaction of goods and services easier or more difficult, eg. cutting regulation, lowering taxes, etc.

[dkendel]

Improving education could help, if you have a more qualified workforce you’ll see higher average incomes which means more consumption, that in turn means more jobs and economic growth. Of course education should include technical schools and apprenticeships too and not just college for everyone.

[vsevolod]

Originally posted by jfoytek:

My guess is nothing effects the economy and it simply increases at a set rate.

An attempt to make things like tax cuts or education benifits factor into the economy would skew the game into having a political bias. If you make tax cuts for instance have a positive effect then you show a republican bias and if you do the reverse you show a democrat bias. So about the only thing you can do is set the GDP to grow at X% and make all those law changes have no effect on it.

I think there is one way to avoid bias - to prescribe in the mechanics of the game two options for the success of the economy, based on the vision of each party. And so that the player at the start can choose which option will lead the country to prosperity. And fight for it. Or be a bad guy.

In general, there is probably an opportunity to create an averaged model that is close to reality, in which both parties will have both positive and negative effects.
But it will not be easy.

[IlyaMerian]

On paper (you know, maths and stuffs), both sides of the economy debate are right (and experience tells us that extremes on both sides are bad). Since this is mostly a spreadsheet game, it can probably get away with both having a positive/negative impact, depending on how the simulation calculates things and what things are changed.

[astravay]

I have this question as well. I've been working with Wisconsin and both the city (Madison) and state economies have declined every year since I started. Not clear why. I think it would be great for there to at least be some advice from your chief of staff on why certain trends are happening from certain perspectives ("some say it's because taxes are too high, others say it's because infrastructure is crumbling"). It would at least give some threads to pull on and a bit of a guide forward.

[DC]

To improve the economy If you are in a deficit raise taxes and reduce spending. With a surplus lower taxes to boost purchasing power. Your biggest obstacle is the different ideologies of the two parties and who the majority is at the time.