Faculty Showcase - Homework 1 and AI Econ Lab 1: Comparative Advantage and Gains from Trade
ECO 1380, Introduction to Economic Analysis and Policy
Dr. Yoo-Mi Chin · Economics · Undergraduate, lower division
The Core Change
Students still do Homework 1 by hand to learn comparative advantage and the gains from trade. They then explain the economic rules to AI, which writes the code for a “Trade Machine.” Students test the machine against their homework answers. Once it checks out, they use it for routine calculations and focus on evaluating trade proposals and defending policy recommendations, without AI.
AI Literacy Continuum
- Original assignment: Level 1, No AI Use (Homework 1)
- Redesign: Level 1 for the Policy Scenarios (no AI), Level 4 for the AI Econ Lab (Integrated AI Use)
Levels from the IWU 5-Level AI Literacy Continuum (Indiana Wesleyan University).
Before
Homework 1 was a handwritten problem set covering:
- opportunity cost
- absolute and comparative advantage
- PPFs
- terms-of-trade price bounds
- Pareto improvement
- a constrained-trade scenario
It built the technique students need for handwritten exams. AI could do most of the calculations accurately, so students could get right answers without reasoning through them. Graphing was the exception, because AI’s PPF sketches were too rough to pass as student work.
After
Homework 1 keeps its objectives. The new lab adds three:
- Turn concepts like opportunity cost and comparative advantage into the logic of a working tool.
- Check an AI-built tool against known correct results before relying on it.
- Combine the tool with their own reasoning to evaluate policy scenarios.
AI’s role:
- builds an HTML Trade Machine from the reasoning students supply
- produces output students must verify or correct
- gives feedback on work in progress
- is prohibited in parts of the task
What stays human: all of Homework 1, the economic reasoning during the build, and Part III (the policy scenarios), where students interpret the machine’s results and make the decisions themselves.
Documentation: students submit their finished Trade Machine file and an AI-generated summary of their build conversation, made with a provided Conversation Summary Prompt.
Workplace Readiness
- Competencies developed: critical evaluation of output; workflow integration
- In a first job: graduates can build a simple analytical tool with AI, test it against known answers before trusting it, and use it to support a recommendation. They understand that an AI-built tool is only as good as the reasoning and checking behind it.
In the Faculty Member’s Words
What surprised me: Building a tool with AI made students’ understanding of economics more visible. To get a working Trade Machine, they had to state the rules clearly and catch it when the machine applied them wrongly. The handwritten homework didn’t have to go.
Advice for a colleague: “You do not have to replace the original assignment to integrate AI.” Test the AI workflow and student access ahead of time. Copilot revealed rules students were supposed to supply, and ChatGPT’s free-account usage limits cut many students off mid-build.
Materials: Homework 1 and Solutions · Trade Machine Prompt · Trade Machine Conversation Summary · Trade Machine Policy Making Practice · AI Lab 1 Trade Machine Grading Rubric
