# VCESR | Economic Research, Modelling & Game Economy Design Source: https://www.vcesr.com/ # Making **complex systems** **understandable.** ## Projects [All projects](https://www.vcesr.com/projects) ![Noscere logo](https://www.vcesr.com/assets/noscere-logo.bbc42bcbd7.svg) ### [Noscere](https://www.vcesr.com/vcesr-educator) An interactive macroeconomics textbook with 14 chapters, 22 teaching activities and nine schools of thought. Powered by the Hermetic Engine, its causal economic simulation lets you change policies and trace their effects through households, firms, banks and financial accounts. Compare experiments with a baseline, inspect 120 economic indicators and export results. [Explore Noscere](https://www.vcesr.com/vcesr-educator) ![Hermetic Engine logo](https://www.vcesr.com/assets/official-hermetic-engine-logo.063502c1e2.webp) ### [Hermetic Engine](https://www.vcesr.com/hermetic-engine) The economic simulation engine behind Noscere and Boom and Bust. Households, firms and banks make decisions within a shared accounting framework that reconciles financial assets and liabilities. A quarterly projection layer connects those decisions to output, inflation, employment and credit. Follow how a policy or shock moves through balance sheets and affects the economy over time. [Explore Hermetic Engine](https://www.vcesr.com/hermetic-engine) ![Boom and Bust: A Minister's Dilemma game logo](https://www.vcesr.com/assets/official-boom-and-bust-logo.a08f3d101a.webp) ### [Boom and Bust](https://www.vcesr.com/boom-and-bust) Play as Korzarkia’s finance minister in a multiplayer economic strategy game set amid a currency and banking crisis. Set taxes, spending, borrowing and monetary policy while balancing political demands. The Hermetic Engine simulates how households, firms and banks respond to your policies, connecting their decisions through reconciled financial accounts and quarterly projections. Your choices affect production, employment, prices and debt as the President, creditors and voters respond. Govern with imperfect information across a campaign lasting fifteen years, with elections every three years. [Explore Boom and Bust](https://www.vcesr.com/boom-and-bust)[Official game website](https://www.ministersdilemma.com/) ![Gladio logo](https://www.vcesr.com/assets/gladio-logo-640.cca4684543.webp) ### [Gladio](https://www.vcesr.com/gladio) Compare economic shock scenarios and cross-border effects with Gladio. Explore changes in output, inflation, trade and currencies against a baseline. Compare scenarios for output, inflation, trade and currencies, including effects transmitted across borders. Adjust assumptions about the shock and the economic response to support country risk assessment, policy analysis and planning. [Explore Gladio](https://www.vcesr.com/gladio) ![Arcana logo](https://www.vcesr.com/assets/arcana-logo-640.24485508f8.webp) ### [Arcana](https://www.vcesr.com/arcana) A digital twin product for exploring how complex systems work and how decisions could change them. Represent the relationships within a company, organisation or public system through causal modelling. Compare interventions with a baseline, examine feedback and delays, and test how outcomes depend on evidence and assumptions. [Explore Arcana](https://www.vcesr.com/arcana) ![Causal Capybara logo](https://www.vcesr.com/assets/causal-capybara-logo.29c51cf2bb.png) ### [Causal Capybara](https://www.vcesr.com/causal-capybara) Local causal-inference software for study design, diagnostics and estimates, with CLI and offline MCP tools. [Explore Causal Capybara](https://www.vcesr.com/causal-capybara) ![Feldsberg logo](https://www.vcesr.com/assets/feldsberg-logo-640.1a52df1c45.webp) ### [Feldsberg Workspace](https://www.vcesr.com/feldsberg-workspace) A tailored research environment for teams, with a standard self-hosted edition. Connect projects, LaTeX, knowledge, CRM and MCP. [Explore Feldsberg Workspace](https://www.vcesr.com/feldsberg-workspace) ![Dilemma by VCESR logo with a branching letter D](https://www.vcesr.com/assets/dilemma-logo-640.09a04fb9fc.webp) ### [Dilemma](https://www.vcesr.com/dilemma-lab) An interactive game theory lab built around six economic games. Explore Nash equilibria, cooperation and strategic incentives by changing payoffs and rules. Compare repeated play under different strategies, or build your own two-player game in the Workbench. A taxi example introduces the Shapley value and how to divide a joint cost. [Explore Dilemma](https://www.vcesr.com/dilemma-lab) ![Korzarkia: The Great Reshuffle game logo](https://www.vcesr.com/assets/official-econcards-logo.b69c7c972d.webp) ### [Korzarkia: The Great Reshuffle](https://www.vcesr.com/econcards) Build an economy with 50 production cards. Connect industries and manage investment and debt across four eras. [Explore Korzarkia: The Great Reshuffle](https://www.vcesr.com/econcards) ## Services [All services](https://www.vcesr.com/services) [Policy impact evaluation](https://www.vcesr.com/services/policy-impact-evaluation) [Econometric modelling and model review](https://www.vcesr.com/services/econometric-modelling) [Research software development](https://www.vcesr.com/services/research-software-development) ### Models and digital twins #### Model how demand, prices and capacity affect a company’s revenue, costs and cash flow. Compare a baseline with a new price, an investment in capacity or a drop in demand. We agree which decisions the twin needs to support and which company data it will use. #### Build a model of a country’s economy around a policy question. Compare changes to taxes, public spending or interest rates and trace their effects on households, firms and public finances. We document the starting conditions, assumptions and data sources for each scenario. #### Estimate relationships in your data or forecast a measure over time. We explain the model’s assumptions and uncertainty, then check how the answer changes under alternative specifications or scenarios. #### Review an existing model’s assumptions and calculations, then test how it responds to alternative inputs or extreme scenarios. We document the checks, the problems found and the limits that matter for its intended use. ### Research and data #### Track changes in a dataset over time, compare groups or review a scenario alongside a baseline. We define each measure and its source, then build the charts, tables and exports your team needs. #### Start with the decision you need to make and what your data can answer. Bring us a research design, an existing analysis or a result you need to interpret. We explain where the evidence is strong and where it runs out. #### Plan how to evaluate whether a policy or programme changed an outcome. We help choose a comparison group, set out the data the design needs and identify the assumptions to check before interpreting an effect estimate. #### Evaluate a policy or programme using the available outcome data. We compare changes across groups or time, examine alternative explanations and report what the estimates support about the intervention’s effects. ### Education and games #### Define how players earn, spend and trade resources. We examine how prices, rewards and progression interact and test for incentives that push players away from the intended experience. #### Build a playable simulation around an economic system. Give players roles and choices, then use scenarios to show how their decisions affect the economy and the people in it. #### Design courses, interactive textbooks and model-based exercises around specific learning goals. Learners can work through an example, change an assumption and compare the results. #### Use worked examples to teach economic concepts. Comparing two payoff tables in a game theory lesson, for instance, shows how a change in the rules can shift a Nash equilibrium. ### Software #### Turn a spreadsheet model or recurring calculation into a web or desktop application. Before we build, we agree who will use it, what they need to enter and what results they need to see. #### Connect your existing tools and automate recurring tasks, such as importing data or producing a report. We agree the interfaces and access each workflow needs, then provide technical training and handover documentation for the team running it. #### Give your team a shared place to work on research notes, references and manuscripts. We shape the workspace around how you record decisions, review proposed revisions and keep track of changes.