Winners of the £1000 prize fund have been chosen from over 1000 entries. The Young Economist of the Year Essay Competition received a high level of interest from GCSE, A level, SQC Intermediate 2/Highers and International Baccalaureate (IB) course students. The 2017 judging panel were Jonathan Haskel (Imperial College London), Alvin Birdi (University of Bristol), Bridget Rosewell (Volterra Partners) and Andrew Cheshire (UCL and former RES President). Judged on the quality of writing and strength of economic arguments, two joint winners were chosen.
The Joint Winners were:
Louise Averill (King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon) for her essay on the topic ''“If you don''t look after your health, you can''t expect free access to health care”. Is this wrong? What are the economic arguments?''
Matthew Thorne (King''s College Taunton) who wrote on the topic ''A recent UK tribunal case has found that Uber drivers are not self-employed and so should be paid the minimum wage and holiday pay. Is this to the advantage of actual and potential drivers or not?''
Both winners will each receive prize money and a certificate and have been invited to an award ceremony to take place at the RES Annual Public Lecture at the Royal Institution in London on Wednesday November 22nd 2017.
Thank you to all students and schools who have taken part this year. A big thank you to The Economics Network who coordinated the competition on behalf of the Society. The highly commended list and final shortlist can be found on the Young Economist essay competition page.
