The 2012 Royal Economic Society Essay Competition for students is launched today. Details below…

The RES judging panel has settled on six essay titles covering a range of macro and micro economic issues. They are listed below.

The first prize will once again be £1,000 together with an engraved trophy together with cash prizes for the other leading essays.

The deadline for submitting essays will be Monday 30th April at 2400 hours..

- The competition is open to all students who are currently studying A Level or IB Economics (or an equivalent course)
- All essays must be submitted online using the official online entry form which is available through the tutor2u Economics Blog.
- The maximum word count for entries is 2,500 words.  The word count includes footnotes, but excludes references and bibliography.
- Only one entry per student is permitted.
- No revisions to entries are permitted once submitted. 
- Please note that entries to the competition should be unique (i.e. not published elsewhere or submitted to other essay competitions.)

Essay questions for 2012

For the 2012 Royal Economic Society essay competition the judges have chosen the following titles

1. Africa is well-placed to achieve rapid and sustainable development in the decade ahead. Do you agree?

2. Over a million young people in the UK are unemployed. What should be done to address the problem?

3. A breakup of the euro provides the best hope for a durable recovery of the European economy. Discuss

4. To what extent can we use ideas drawn from behavioural economics to help address specific social and economic problems?

5. Manufacturing’s share of the UK economy shrank from 19% in 1998 to 12% by 2007. Does this matter and, if so, how could policy revitalise British manufacturing?

6. Is there a better way out of the debt crisis than austerity?

All entries will be judged by a panel of 15-20 experienced Economics teachers drawn from a range of schools and colleges across the UK.  The Teacher Panel meet together in mid June for two days and produce a Final Shortlist of entries (typically 5-10) from the expected entry of over 500 essays. In addition to the Final Shortlist, the Teacher Panel will produce a list of Highly Commended entries.

The judging panel for the Final Shortlist will be Professor Richard Blundell (RES), Charles Bean (Bank of England) and Stephanie Flanders (BBC).  The result of the competition is normally announced in late July/early August.