Using Computer Modelling as a Tool for Self-directed Learning in Financial Economics

This paper presents an example of the use of a computer simulation model as a platform for self-directed student learning in the field of financial economics. Students use the simulation model as a vehicle to analyse expected outcomes for a typical capital investment as influenced by a probabilistically distributed set of possible future macroeconomic variables. The technique may be used to analyse a wide range of financial decisions, but in this example we use it to inform a decision regarding financing structure in a real estate investment.