Induction Activity –
instruction sheet
Your political party gained control of parliament in the last general election 4 years ago. You have no
majority in parliament anymore and are faced with a rate of inflation at 0%. Your unemployment rate
stands at 0% and economic growth at 0% per annum.
Your Prime Minister has given you total power to run the economy over the 12 months running up to
the general election and hopes that a successful economy will earn your party re-election.
You have a list of 28 potential policies. You must choose one of these policies every month for a
maximum number of 12 months (at which point there is a general election and the game ends).
Each time that you choose a policy you must tell the tutor in charge of the game and they will enter
your choice into a computer. Your choice will affect the rate of inflation, unemployment and economic
growth. This will give you a ‘Government Score’ and change the opinion poll ratings and amount of debt
that you have.
Rules
You can not choose a policy more than once.
The winning player/team is the one with the HIGHEST Government Score. However, you must win your
General election at the end of the 12 months in order to stand a chance of winning. Should there be a
tie for the highest government score, the student/team with the highest government score AND the
HIGHEST opinion poll rating will win the game.
If at the end of the 12 months your poll rating is less than ’zero’ you lose the general election and your
Government score will show as zero.
If your debt grows larger than 10% of your GDP your Government Score will drop to ‘zero’. You can
continue making policy choices but your score will only return to its natural rate once your debt goes
below 10%.
Government Score
The Government Score is calculated by using the combined totals of your scores for GDP, inflation and
unemployment.
• GDP – your GDP is added to your score. This is good news, as long as your GDP score is
positive! Try to keep your GDP as high a score as possible.
• Inflation – your economy operates well if your inflation rate is between zero and 2 points. In this
case, your inflation score is added to your Government Score. If your inflation score dips below
zero it will be recorded as zero on your score. If your inflation score goes above 2 points then it
is deducted from your government score. Try to keep your inflation rate between zero and 2
points.
Induction Activity –
instruction sheet
• Unemployment – your economy hopes for zero unemployment but can operate well if
unemployment scores 1 point. So, if your unemployment score is zero or 1 it will not be added to
your Government Score. If unemployment falls below zero (under-employment) then nothing
will be added to your Government Score. If your unemployment score exceeds 1 point then it
will be deducted from your government score. Try to keep your unemployment rate between
zero and 1 points.
Debt
Your country is willing to accept a certain amount of debt (budget deficit). As long as your debt
does not exceed 9 points then your Government Score will not be affected. If your Debt score
exceeds 9, then your Government Score will be set at zero until you can get your debt to below 10.
Try to keep your Debt score below 10.
Poll
Your poll score does not impact on your Government Score until the end of the game. If, after 12
months, your Poll score is below zero then your final Government Score will be set at zero. Try to
keep your Poll score a positive number in the last 3 or 4 months of the game.
Induction Activity –
instruction sheet
Policies Choices:
No. Policy
1 Increase government spending on the health service
2 Freeze wages for public sector workers
3 Increase income tax by 2%
4 Increase Base Rate of interest by 1.0%
5 Give large subsidies to encourage firms to move to areas of high unemployment
6 Increase spending on motorways
7 Improve funding to further education colleges
8 Increase the minimum wage by £1.20
9 Increase VAT by 2.0%
10 Devaluing the exchange rate
11 Deregulate your gas industry
12 Increase grants for small businesses
13 Increase tariffs on imports
14 Subsidise exporting companies
15 Subsidise agriculture
16 Join a free trade area with the rest of Europe
17 Join the Euro
18 Use of quantitative easing
19 Raising corporation tax by 1.0%
20 Nationalise the rail industry
21 Reduce access to welfare benefits
22 Increase spending on house building projects
23 Deregulate labour market to allow more flexible employment conditions
24 Encourage greater immigration because of labour shortages
25 Grants to technology firms to improve speeds and access to internet
26 Increase the tax-free personal allowance
27 Create a new tax band to claim 50% income tax from the super-wealthy
28 Reducing paperwork needed to set up a business
Record your progress here:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Policy choice
Govt. Score
Inflation
Unemployment
GDP
Debt
Poll
