LETTER: Monopoly bored game needs a reality update
Originally called The Landlords Game, Monopoly can be used to illustrate modern monetary theory
Monopoly had its origin in the early 20th century and was originally called The Landlords Game. It was intended to illustrate the economic consequences of Ricardo’s law of economic rent, and the concept of economic privilege. In other words, wealth can be accumulated by the control of the best resources (land).
Monopoly has also been used for other purposes, for example, a Cape Town teacher used it to show her pupils the devastating effect of the Group Areas Act. The rules were changed so that only blue-eyed learners were allowed to buy the best properties. The result, of course, was the blue-eyed learners accumulated all the wealth while the rest found it was better to go to jail and not move around the board...
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