Once again we have had a fantastic response to our Young Economist of the Year competition, with nearly 1300 submissions from schools across the country. Thank you to everyone who submitted essays.
For the 2019 competition, students were asked to complete a 1,500 word essay on one of the following titles:
- "HS2 is a political vanity project that makes little economic sense." Do you agree? Could better economic decisions have been taken about HS2?
- Should the government introduce a cap on unarranged bank overdraft fees? Explain your answer.
- "Money would be better spent in the UK instead of on overseas development." Do you agree? Explain your answer.
- "The Universal Basic Income is the best solution to handle the large scale displacement of labour due to automation in the coming years." Do you agree?
- "A carbon tax is insufficient to deal with the challenge of climate change and instead we should invest in new technologies." Do you agree?
Essays were anonymised, and our judges considered each one for originality, quality of writing, economic content and the quality and power of the economic arguments.
The Royal Economic Society is pleased to announce that this year’s winners are:
Best overall essay (£1,000)
Minna Moody-Stuart – Benenden School
Best essay on each of the five titles (£200 each)
Vasilios Kyriacou – Greenford High School (HS2 essay)
Celine Markantonis – North London Collegiate School (bank overdraft fees essay)
Saskia Poulter – The Tiffin Girls' School (development essay)
Presence Tse – Chelmsford County High School for Girls (UBI essay)
Zhaniya Murzalina – Haileybury Astana School (carbon tax essay)
These were highly commended by the teacher judging panel:
Lauren Penney – The Tiffin Girls' School (bank overdraft fees essay)
Prerak Goel – King Edward's School, Birmingham (carbon tax essay)
Millie Harrison –Maidstone Grammar School for Girls (carbon tax essay)
Ben Walldock – Watford Grammar School for Boys (carbon tax essay)
Maddie Hayes – The Tiffin Girls' School (carbon tax essay)
Ambrine Pirbay-Katchera – Lycee International of London Winston Churchill (carbon tax essay)
Maria Artemenkova – Cheltenham Ladies College (carbon tax essay)
Dylan Atkinson – Walton Sixth Form (carbon tax essay)
Cai Zihan – Jurong Country Garden School (HS2 essay)
Tomohisa Yamamoto – St Paul's School (HS2 essay)
Amelia Shaw – Royal Grammar School Worcester (HS2 essay)
Charlie Perkins – Warwick School (HS2 essay)
Zhiwei Yan – Malvern College (HS2 essay)
Marcus Mangoro – Marcus Mangoro (HS2 essay)
Arcadia Cipriani – Dubai College (HS2 essay)
Robbie Dodsworth – The Perse School (UBI essay)
Ritvik Ramnath – Dubai College (UBI essay)
Simran Cheema – Langley Grammar School (UBI essay)
Sorochi Eze-Uzomaka – The Tiffin Girls' School (UBI essay)
Georgia Crowe – Westminster (UBI essay)
Ziyi Wei – Beijing National Day School (UBI essay)
LIU JIE – Ningxiang Country Garden School (UBI essay)
Jack Attwood – Queen Elizabeths Grammar School (UBI essay)
Le Dong Hai Nguyen – CATS College (UBI essay)
Arcadia Cipriani – Dubai College (HS2 essay)
Robbie Dodsworth – The Perse School (UBI essay)
Ritvik Ramnath – Dubai College (UBI essay)
Arushi Bajpai – The Tiffin Girls' School (UBI essay)
Tommy Nguyen – Harrow School (UBI essay)
Anthony Shorrocks – Reading School (UBI essay)
