Real-Time Data Lead to Real-Life Lessons

by Evelyn Beck In Scott Simkins’s economics classes at North Carolina State University in Greensboro, N.C., students try to predict the future—but not for traditional economics subjects. “Students aren’t predicting the price of pork bellies next week but rather who’s going to win the election or whether the Federal Reserve is going to raise interest rates at its next meeting or what the box office receipts of The Matrix are going to be in its first four weeks of release,” says Simkins. Using real-time data Web sites such as the Iowa Electronics Market, Simkins’s students make weekly virtual trades, then […]