(Image Source: ECB)


BY RICHARD LAYCOCK

ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY

Wanna fix the economy? Now you can give it a shot-- on your iPhone or iPad.

The European Central Bank- or ECB- has come up with a monetary policy game called Economia.

According to Forbes-- the app is just an update of ECB’s existing web version.

“You’re asked to make sure that inflation in the Eurozone stays under 2% and you’re given the interest rate levels to twitch in order to do so.”

But tweaking the interest rate is about all you can do with Economia. A Wall Street Journal reporter says-- the limited features may be indicative of the ECB’s mindset.

“What it doesn’t do is take into account debt problems roiling the region. Maybe that’s a clue for how the real ECB feels about the problems facing its member nations. It creates a game that ignores the region’s biggest problems.”

And it’s not just the Wall Street Journal questioning the logic behind the game. Think Progress took the app for a spin and had this to say:

“That’s the ECB’s view of the world. Output doesn’t matter. Unemployment doesn’t matter. Having inflation close to 2 percent matters a little. But it matters more to be below 2% than to be close to the target. If forced to choose between full employment and 4.16% inflation and a years-long deflationary recession, choose the recession.”

Finally, an FX-MM blogger says-- it’s a shame the app doesn’t do a bit more-- the ECB may have missed out on a source of new ideas.

“...has the ECB missed a trick? Surely there was an opportunity here to harvest the input of millions of players and to make the Eurozone the world’s first economy with a crowd-sourced monetary policy.”