THE ROYAL ECONOMIC SOCIETY
Report of the 2010 Young Economist of the Year Competition
For the 2010 competition, the judges decided for the first time, to offer
students a choice of five essay questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What are the best economic policies to curb alcohol consumption?
The pursuit of lower income inequality is irrational and counterproductive. Discuss.
Foreign aid hinders development. Discuss.
Would the world economy function better with a single global currency?
How do we prevent house price bubbles in the future?
There were 511 entries, an increase of 60 (13%) on 2009 with over 200 schools
and colleges entering students. The overall standard continues to be very
high, with many schools entering the best essays after holding internal
competitions.
The final stage was judged by RES Council Members Charlie Bean of the Bank
of England, Stephanie Flanders, Economics Editor BBC and Richard Blundell
as President of the RES.
Before conferring, we each independently identified our top three essays,
irrespective of subject matter.
We agreed that the best essay was by Jessica Hawley. Her essay on the topic
“What are the best economic policies to curb alcohol consumption: The
Economic Alcoholic” was judged to be a brilliantly constructed essay. Told
from the point of view of a recovering alcoholic it presented all of the key
policy issues in a lucid and engaging way. The problem of assuming rational
choice for heavy drinkers was clearly conveyed as was the potential of tax
rises to induce a shift to cheaper forms of alcohol – from ‘Remy Martin to
cooking brandy’. Minimum prices, age limits, opening hours and advertising
bans were all weighed up in a concise and balanced manner, persuasively
arguing for a combination of policies.
We placed Alexander Suchanek second. His essay on the topic “Foreign Aid
Hampers Development: Discuss ” was a clear and well-articulated essay
arguing that, while development aid can lead to a dependency culture, with
good governance and a good local knowledge aid can be effective for
development. Ideas from game theory and economic logic were used to make
the case for microfinance initiatives and to show how poorly designed aid
programmes can create adverse incentives for private investment and can also
distort government decisions.
In third place was Sarisher Mann whose answer to “How do we prevent
house price bubbles in the future?” was an attractive blend of well chosen
empirical evidence and good economic intuition used to argue that house
price bubbles cannot be solely attributed to the expansion of the sub-prime
mortgage market. Germany and Spain, where regulation prevented extensive
sub-prime lending, were shown to have experienced historic episodes of
severe housing bubbles. The essay used this evidence to make the case for
more general banking and fiscal policies to prevent house price bubbles.
The teacher judging panel met on Sunday & Monday 20-21 June 2010 to read
through all the entries and identify the final shortlist. The panel consisted of:
Andy Hunting (Uppingham School), Geoff Riley (Eton College), Jen Stimson
(Colchester RGS), Lisa Newton (Westminster School), Liz Veal (Peter
Symonds College), Mo Tanweer (Merchant Taylors), Paul Bridges (Tiffin
School), Penny Brooks (City of London Freemans), Richard Dolan
(Portsmouth Grammar School), Ruth Tarrant (Open University), Sarah
Leonard (Westminster School), Tom White (City of Norwich Girls School),
Lynne Wooliscroft (Nottingham Girls High School), Stuart Block (Cranleigh
School), Nicola King (Radley College), Wilma Robinson (Nottingham High
School)
17 entries made it through to the Finalists shortlist. They were:
Talitha Patterson-Gordon (Oundle School)
Aydin Emre Osborne Dikerdem (Elliott School, Battersea)
Sue Lyn Stubbs (The British School of Costa Rica)
Jessica Hawley (Stratford upon Avon Grammar School for Girls)
Jason Parisi (Chesham High School)
Anjney Midha (Saint Andrews Junior College, Singapore)
Jago McKenzie (City of London School for Boys)
Samuel Burke (Colchester Royal Grammar School)
Matthew Cordwell (Cranleigh School)
Bryony Henry (Ipswich School)
Babatunde Onabajo (Bishop Challoner Catholic Collegiate School, E. London)
Tilly King (Cheltenham College)
Dasha Dobrogordkaya (d’Overbroeck’s College)
Sarisher Mann (Highfields Science Specialist School, Wolverhampton)
Alex Springer (Wilson’s School)
Krishna Patel (Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boy’s School)
Alexander Suchanek (Tiffin Boys School)
A list of Highly commended entries and also a list of the schools and colleges
- from the UK and overseas - that joined in for the 2010 competition is
published on the Tutor2U website.
The 2010 Young Economist of the Year is therefore Jessica Hawley, who will
receive a prize of £1,000. Second place Alexander Suchanek, and third place
Sarisher Mann will get £500 each. The plan is to award the prizes to the
winners at John Van Reenen’s annual public lecture in London on 2
December.
Charlie Bean, Richard Blundell, Stephanie Flanders,
Jim Riley (Managing Director, Tutor2u Limited)
31 July 2010