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This paper reports a controlled experiment investigating the instructional effectiveness of a textbook-based microcomputer simulation program in the traditional Principles of Economics course. A group of economics students at Mississippi State University were required to work through a macroeconomic policy simulation program as part of their course of study. These students were pre- and post-tested using the Revised Test of Understanding College Economics and the Attitude Towards Economics dimension of the Survey of Economic Attitudes. Changes in their test scores are compared to those of students in a traditional lecture class not exposed to the simulation program. A MANOVA analysis of the data indicates a difference in economic learning and attitude formation between the class groups. The results suggest that students using the computer simulation significantly improved their ability to solve implicitly …