– economist Yanis Varoufakis on the appeal of studying game economies In a new interview with political magazine Reason, economist Yanis Varoufakis explains in detail why studying Valve’s in-game economies — something he did for the company between 2012 and 2013 — is not simply fascinating. He argues that not only could it affect how economists look at the way economies work — it should dramatically change their thinking. It’s a rare possibility, Varoufakis says, to gain a complete understanding of an economy’s function without using models to stand in for data: “… in the video game world, we economists have a smidgen of an opportunity to conduct controlled experiments on a real, functioning macroeconomy. And that may be a scientific window into economic reality that we’ve never had access to before,” he says. The full interview with Varoufakis is well worth reading.