Why Economics Matters

This looks like a tremendous event at the LSE in a couple of weeks

Why Economics Matters
Date: Tuesday 20 May 2008
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: Old Theatre, Old Building
Speakers: Professor Orazio Attanasio, Tim Harford, Professor Klaus Nielsen, Martin Wolf, Chair: Evan Davis

Further details available here

Attention grabbing

The deadline for submitting an entry to the RES economics competition is just a week away! Students entering the competition might like to know that the initial round of judging will be taking place on the 12th June! On this day a team of teachers drawn from across the country will be enjoying a day away from the classroom with just one aim in mind, to read and find essays that grab their attention and which stand a chance to make it into the final short list!

With so many essays to read and judge, writing a lively introduction that engages with the reader is really important if you want your essay to stand a good chance. Each of the judges will have their own thoughts on what makes a good answer. From my point of view, I am looking for an essay that I really want to read to the end - so your opening does make a difference! The best essays will have at their heart a clear economic idea or policy (often it is better to narrow down your idea and develop it properly rather than try to paint on too broad a canvas). And we are looking for students who make the connection between their idea and policy and how this might be used to ‘improve peope’s lives’. You will need to persuade the reader, making good use of evidence and drawing on your background reading.

In short, please dont regard your answer as a normal homework essay! We want to see you going beyond the usual AS or A2 syllabus and taking a few risks!

Good luck this week ... we are really looking forward to reading your answers.

Don’t forget to stick to the rubric of the competition - clear presentation, spell-checking and all of those other ‘critical non-essentials’!!

Good University Guide Rankings for Economics

There is a plethora of university guides out there and no one guide has a monopoly on gauging accurately the relative merits of one university against another and one department against another. The Independent today publishes a survey based on the new version of the Good University Guide. Here are the rankings for Economics - at least they had the good sense to put Cambridge first! It brings back so many memories of three years at the Sidgewick site!