Make economic assumptions visible in a model
Economists can use Machinations to make a system’s structure and assumptions easier to communicate. Build a diagram that collaborators can inspect, question and Play alongside the analysis.
Teams that model with Machinations
What you can do with it
Represent the relationships behind an outcome
Map resources, rules, incentives, delays and feedback loops that matter to the question.
Compare scenarios transparently
Change assumptions and examine how possible outcomes shift.
Communicate across disciplines
Use the diagram to discuss model boundaries and assumptions with policy, product, design or research collaborators.
An economic argument you can Play
Aristotle’s household makes goods for use and sells some for coin, which can be lent at interest. Move the Levers, then Play it. It is one of the models in our history of economic thought.
Model the flows behind a market
Machinations draws an economy as resources that move between places: goods, money, labor and time. Producers, consumers and prices become nodes you can see, and the rules that connect them become something you can read and challenge.
Start from a simple market of supply, demand and price, then add one thing at a time: a tax, a delay, a shock to supply. Each addition is visible on the diagram instead of hidden in a formula.
Try policy levers before you argue about them
A policy is a change to a rule: a rate, a cap, a subsidy, a reserve. Give that rule a Lever and your team can move it, Play the model and compare Forecasts side by side.
The diagram shows how an outcome came about, so a discussion about a policy can be about the mechanism and its assumptions, not only about the result.
Teach and learn the classic models
Students can open a model of a household, a granary or a money supply, change an assumption and watch the system respond. Playing a model turns a paragraph from a textbook into something to test.
Machinations does not replace data or econometrics. It makes the structure of an argument explicit, so you know what to check against the evidence.
Put your economic model where everyone can read it
Draw the stocks, flows and incentives, Play the model with your team and Forecast policy changes before they land.
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