AI is a good sparring partner for case studies, economic models and defending a business plan. But it makes up numbers convincingly, so take them from sources and calculate in Excel. Prompts for cases, models, data and finance. As of 26 October 2026.
🛡️ Safety net: what AI doesn't do in economics
How universities handle AI and what doesn't belong in it in general is on the university page. Here's what applies on top of that in economics and management.
⚠️ Watch out for this
AI makes up numbers: GDP, inflation, market shares and company results. Take data only from a source, and for every number say where it's from and what date it refers to.
AI only knows data up to a certain date. Interest rates, inflation and exchange rates change; check current values with the central bank and the statistics office.
Do calculations (NPV, IRR, elasticity, financial ratios) in Excel or another tool. Let AI explain the formula and the method.
A company's internal data from a placement or from a confidential case study doesn't belong in AI.
📚 Where to check
Official statistics from the national statistics office. In the Czech Republic that's the Czech Statistical Office's DataStat.
Exchange rates, interest rates and time series from the central bank. In the Czech Republic that's the Czech National Bank's ARAD database.
Financial statements and annual reports of companies from the business register. For Czech companies that's the collection of documents at or.justice.cz.
💼 Cases and business
AI asks questions like a seminar tutor or an investor. You find the answer.
A case study with a mock seminarClaudeChatGPTGemini
<case>
[paste the case study from your seminar]
</case>
You're a management teacher running a seminar on this case study. Don't tell me the solution. Ask me step by step: what the main problem is, what the options are, what each would cost and what risks it carries, what I recommend and why.
Respond to my answers with a follow-up question, the way a good teacher does. At the end, sum up what I overlooked.
Work only with the facts in the case. If we need a figure that's missing, say so and don't fill it in.
An investor against my business planClaudeChatGPTGrok
<plan>
[paste the business plan or its summary]
</plan>
You're an investor assessing this business plan. Find its 5 weakest points: market, competition, financial assumptions, team, risks.
For each one, ask the question I'll get when I defend it, and say what figure or calculation would back up my answer.
Don't rewrite the plan. Don't make up numbers that aren't in the plan.
📈 Models and theory
You understand a model when you move it around. AI gives a situation and you say what happens.
An economic model and shifting curvesClaudeChatGPTGemini
Explain the [AD-AS / IS-LM / supply and demand] model to me:
1. What's on the axes and what the curves mean.
2. What assumptions the model makes.
3. Then give me 3 situations (such as "the central bank raises interest rates") and let me say which curve shifts, which way and what happens to price and quantity. Show the explanation only after I answer.
If schools of economic thought disagree on the interpretation, say so.
A quiz on micro- or macroeconomicsClaudeChatGPTGemini Notebook
<materials>
[paste your notes or the exam topics]
</materials>
Quiz me on [microeconomics]. Alternate questions on concepts, short problems with calculations and "what happens if…" questions. Ask one at a time.
For calculations, show the correct working after I answer. After 8 questions, tell me what to review.
Stay within the materials.
🔢 Data and calculations
AI shows you where to find data, which formula to use and what the result means. You download the numbers and do the calculating yourself.
Where do I find the dataChatGPTGeminiClaude
Works best with web search turned on.
For my seminar paper I need data on [unemployment by region in my country for 2015–2025].
Tell me which institutions publish such data (for example the national statistics office, the central bank, Eurostat), what the indicator is called exactly and how to find it in their database. Point out differences in methodology between the sources.
Don't give the numbers themselves, I'll download them from the source.
Excel formulas and checking a calculationChatGPTClaudeGemini
I'm calculating [the NPV and IRR of an investment] in Excel. My data: [cash flows by year, discount rate].
1. Write the Excel formulas and explain what each argument does.
2. Point out common mistakes (such as Excel's NPV function already discounting the first cash flow).
3. Show how I can check the result by hand or with a different formula.
Don't calculate the result yourself, I'll do it in Excel.
Interpreting a regressionClaudeChatGPTGemini
<output>
[paste the regression output from Excel, Gretl, R or Python]
</output>
Explain this regression output to me: what the coefficients, standard errors, p-values and R² mean, how to describe the result in one sentence in my paper, and what I mustn't claim from it (causation, results outside the range of the data).
Tell me which model assumptions I should check and how.
Work only from the numbers in the output.
Analysing financial statementsClaudeChatGPT
<statements>
[paste a company's balance sheet and income statement, for example from the business register]
</statements>
Calculate the basic profitability, liquidity, debt and activity ratios from the statements. For each one, show the formula, the numbers plugged in and the result, so I can check the calculation.
Then say what the ratios tell us about the company and what can't be concluded from them.
Use only the numbers from the statements. If an item is missing, say so.