This diploma seminar thesis carefully examines a financial simulation game that was part of the International Economics Olympiad until 2023. The focus is on the financial markets of the game, which are thoroughly presented and analyzed. Their instruments are linked to real-world financial market instruments, allowing for various comparisons. It was found that the game’s markets represent the real markets in terms of sector diversity, although the game lacks insurance and taxes, imposes trading restrictions, and limits borrowing.
Various statistical comparisons and analyses were performed on the time series of total returns of the instruments. The average returns, volatility, skewness, excess kurtosis, autocorrelation function, Spearman correlations and distributions were compared. Despite some instruments and their real-world equivalents behaving similarly in certain aspects, the findings indicate significant differences, leading to the conclusion that the financial markets within the game do not behave in the same manner as real financial markets.
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