Advice for the 2008 RES Economist Competition

Our panel of experienced Economics teachers read through every essay submitted for the 2007 competition! It was quite a task but also a very enjoyable one, for there was lots of interesting and colourful answers making great use of economic ideas!

The 2008 RES Young Economist essay competition is a great opportunity for students to explore how economics can influence their lives.  It is a chance to spread their academic wings, to learn the pleasure of research, to enjoy the challenge of going off-syllabus and to work independently.

Ahead of the 2008 competition, several members of the teachers’ panel have offered good advice for students wanting to make their mark this time!

Here is the essay title for the 2008 Royal Economic Society Young Economist of the Year competition.

“Which economic idea or policy has the most power to improve our lives?”

This is a very open-ended question which can be approached from all sorts of different angles.

Economics as a social science has always been pretty good at generating ideas and different policies which might be used to address issues of economic, social, environmental and political concern. Some ideas have been around for a long time - do they still have value in today’s world? Perhaps you want to take a look at some fresh thinking in economics, perhaps ideas from a new generation of economists who don’t necessarily believe in the standard fare to be found in most textbooks!

Here are some suggestions from our panel:

“Don’t over-write! The maximum length for the essay is fairly short - just 2,000 words. A good answer will be concise and come in within the maximum word limit.”

“Try to use examples that are not found in standard textbooks - originality is far more likely to catch the judges’ eyes”

“Footnotes and references are excellent, but should NOT be used to try to extend the overall length of the essay. If something is clearly relevant, it should be in the body of your answer and not hidden in a footnote!”

“It is a good idea to support your answer with examples and evidence drawn from the real world - but please do not go over-the-top on charts and tables!”

“Think whether your essay is the sort of article that would grab your attention early on, if you were reading it in a newspaper.”

“Coherency of argument, a clear structure and the ‘interest factor’ are all important for the readers of your essay.”

“Shorter well argued pieces will nearly always do better than the long rambling answer which loses sight of the question.”

“The most interesting, and therefore best, essays are those where students have had the confidence to follow through their own unique ideas!”

“Don’t ignore more unusual problems.  Unusual problems might call for unusual solutions!”

“Economics delights in throwing up counter-intuitive solutions.  Challenge the conventional wisdom.”

“Introduce us to a statistic(s) that we may have overlooked….”

“Challenge your own judgment: what makes your idea or policy more important than any others?”

Some great advice here - and I will be happy to offer extra guidance if needed - just contact me through the blog.

Have a good think about what sorts of economic ideas and policies you might want to research and write about. Bounce your thoughts off your friends and your teachers! This kind of essay competition can be really good fun and hopefully it will stretch you and take you into some interesting, challenging and occasionally controversial areas of our fantastic subject.

Zoe Hart’s winning essay from the 2007 Young Economist of the Year competition can be found here.

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