SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS: LUCAS ISLANDS EXPERIMENT

This repository provides supplementary materials for the classroom Lucas Islands Experiment, 
including Excel templates for student input and MATLAB scripts for automated data processing.

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1. OVERVIEW

These materials illustrate how to use Dropbox to distribute and collect Excel-based responses 
from students, and how to process the resulting files automatically using MATLAB.

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2. FILES PROVIDED

Teaching and Distribution
- Instructions.tex — contains detailed instructions to educators. Latex file. 
- LucasIslands_ExcelTemplate.xlsx — Student input template, Excel file. 
  Only designated input cells are editable; computed cells (e.g., wages, prices) 
  contain pre-inserted formulas.
- LucasIslands_InfoSheet.tex — Instructions for students. Latex file. 
- ExperimentSlides2025.tex — Slides used in the lecture. Latex beamer file.

Create and distribute LucasIslands_InfoSheet.pdf.

Data Processing
- process_files.m — MATLAB script that reads all student Excel files, assigns 
  sequential Player IDs, and compiles key data into a single Excel file combined.xlsx.
- write_matrices.m — MATLAB script that appends aggregate and dummy-variable sheets 
  to combined.xlsx.

Example of output
- LucasIslands_ExcelTemplate (3) Oleg.xlsx — Example Excel file as submitted by a student.
- LucasIslands_ExcelTemplate (4) Tatiana.xlsx — Example Excel file as submitted by a student.
- LucasIslands_ExcelTemplate (5) Nigar.xlsx — Example Excel file as submitted by a student.
- combined.xlsx — Excel file produced by the MATLAB code.

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3. DISTRIBUTING MATERIALS VIA DROPBOX

1. Upload LucasIslands_ExcelTemplate.xlsx 
   to a Dropbox folder (keep separate from the submissions folder).
2. Click “Share → Copy link” and ensure “Anyone with the link can view.”
3. Post the link on Moodle or email them to students.
   - Students should download the Excel template (not edit online).
   - Fill only the unlocked cells.
   - Save before uploading.

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4. COLLECTING SUBMISSIONS VIA DROPBOX FILE REQUEST

1. In Dropbox, choose “Create (+) → Send file request.”
2. Set a title (for example, Lucas Islands Excel submission) and select a submissions folder.
3. Share the request link on Moodle or by email. Students can drag and drop files 
   without seeing others’ submissions.
4. Anonymity:
   - In the Name field, students can enter their island letter (A–J) or simply “anon”.
   - For the Email field, use a placeholder such as anon@example.com if anonymity is required.
5. Dropbox automatically appends counters to duplicate filenames, so no submissions are lost.

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5. PRACTICAL TIPS

- Keep protection on the Excel template; only unlock cells that students must edit.
- Test the full workflow once using a private or incognito browser: 
  download → enter dummy data → upload via file request → run scripts.

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6. PROCESSING SUBMISSIONS WITH MATLAB

Step 1: Run Scripts
1. Download or sync the Dropbox submissions folder locally.
2. Run the scripts in order:
   (a) process_files.m
   (b) write_matrices.m

Step 2: Output from process_files.m
Creates combined.xlsx with the following sheets:
- Pe — Price forecasts by Player ID (values from C5:C19 in each submission).
- W — Individual wages by Player ID (values from B5:B19).
- Is — Mapping of ID, island letter (A–J), and numeric code (A=1,…,J=10).
- Mapping — Links each Player ID to the original filename.

Step 3: Output from write_matrices.m
Appends additional sheets to combined.xlsx:
- W_table — Wage table by period (t) and island number.
- P — Aggregate price by period (t).
- Nb, Nr — Island-level demand dummies (booms/reductions).
- Ei, Eu, Mc, Me — Time-series dummies:
  Ei: inflation up
  Eu: unemployment up
  Mc: contractionary policy
  Me: expansionary policy

Step 4: Analysis
Import combined.xlsx into Stata, R, or Python for analysis.
Sequential Player IDs provide consistent keys across all sheets.

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7. CITATION

If you use these materials, please cite the corresponding paper:

Hashimzade, N. et al. (2025). 
"Lucas Islands Game in Intermediate Macroeconomics."
Journal of Economic Education.