Rewarding New Challenge for Young Economists

The Society launched their Young Economist of the Year competition in 2007, in association with tutor2u. This prestigious essay writing competition invites students currently studying for A Levels and the International Baccalaureate in all subjects to write on a major current problem or topic of concern. The winner of the Young Economist of the Year wins £1,000, with runners-up each
receiving £500.

Students are invited to write an essay of between 1,000 to 2,000 words, calling on key elements of their A Level or International Baccalaureate courses, examples from the world around them and imaginative discussion.

The winner of the Young Economist of the Year prize will be announced in August each year, with the prize presentation made at the RES Annual Public Lecture in the Autumn. Each school or college who submits one or more entries will receive a certificate of entry.

For further details contact the RES Administrator at royaleconsoc@st-andrews.ac.uk or tutor2u at www.tutor2u.net

The joint winners of The Royal Economic Society Young Economist of the Year Competition 2008 are Promit Anwar from Queen Elizabeth’s Boys’ School Barnet and Lizzy Burden from Withington Girls’ School. They will each receive a £1,000 prize.

Nearly 400 entries - from as far afield as Singapore - were received for the 2008 competition. The task was to write up to 2,000 words on which economic idea or policy has most power to improve our lives. A wide variety of topics were covered by entrants including investment in sports facilities, the economics of happiness, micro-finance, mass collaboration and feed-in tariffs.

Lizzy Burden wrote about the power of ideas from game theory. True to its title, "Love is a game", her lively essay ranged well beyond the usual bounds of Economics, and took in politics and university applications as well as oil and airline cartels.

Promit Anwar chose international finance policy for his topic. Promit put the case for the creation of an international currency to supplant the dollar, arguing that this would help economic development by improving investment efficiency, ease macro imbalances and provide an international policy instrument.

A team of twelve experienced Economics teachers met in June to read and judge every entry, identifying the shortlisted entries. The final judging process was performed by Charles Bean (Deputy Governor, Bank of England), Stephanie Flanders (Economics Editor, BBC) and John Vickers (RES President).

Commenting on the results, John Vickers said:

"The Young Economist of the Year Competition, now in its second year, has again excited great interest and brought forth impressive talent. Two entries stood out: Promit Anwar’s thoughtful analysis of global reserves policy and Lizzy Burden’s sharp and engaging account of the power of game theory. We are delighted to congratulate and announce Lizzy and Promit as the joint winners of the Royal Economic Society Young Economist of the Year 2008".

The competition was organised for the RES by tutor2u. Commenting on the 2008 competition, tutor2u’s Jim Riley said:

"The overall standard of entries for the 2008 Competition was even higher than 2007 and a significant number of high quality entries made it through to the final shortlist. The RES Essay Competition is now firmly established as a challenging and rewarding extension activity for the increasing number of A Level and IB Economics students in the UK and overseas".