LSE Economics Society Essay Competition

We love enrichment opportunities at Tutor2u so news reaching us of an essay competition for sixth form students organised by the team at the London School of Economics is music to our ears! Here are the details of the essay titles for the 2017 challenge!

About the LSE SU Economics Society 

The LSE SU Economics Society is one of the largest student societies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the only one officially supported by the LSE’s Economics Department. This year they are introducing an essay competition for sixth form students both to promote LSE and provide an avenue through which students can explore interesting questions beyond their syllabuses. 

Here are the questions for 2017:

1. Can Economics tell us anything about how we can try to prevent war?
2. Imagine that in front of you is a Big Red button. If you press the button, everyone in the world would have their wealth magically equalised. Would you press the button? Explain the economic reasoning behind your decision
3. Discuss the effect of the rise of ad blocker software on the Internet – is it a blessing or a curse?
4. ‘Free trade is a necessary evil’. How far do you agree?
5. ‘On a societal level, University Education is inefficient – for most people, it hardly makes them better at their future jobs, but it comes at a huge opportunity cost because students miss out from entering a career earlier. Most people who go to university only do so because they’d be left behind in the job market if they didn’t go and everyone else did’. With reference to this argument, should the government drastically limit the number of university places available? 

Prizes:

• First prize: £125 Amazon voucher
• Runner-Up (2nd and 3rd place): £75 Amazon voucher
• 4th and 5th place: £25 Amazon voucher

In addition, the top three entries will also be included in Rationale, our economics magazine, which is widely read both across LSE and online, by many hundreds of our members. All shortlisted entires will receive certificates.

Poster to download from this link

Rules:

• Entries should be around 1500 words long, and preferably not more than 2000 words
• Entry is open to students in their final two years of secondary school, or in sixth form college (including students taking A-Level and IB courses, as well as any equivalent course)
• All work must be the entrant’s original content, and must have been produced solely for this competition
• Students may choose their own titles different from those listed above, but they must still adhere to the rule that work is produced solely for this competition
• Entrants do not need to have studied economics at school in order to enter, but they should still try to make sure that their essay is heavily rooted in economics
• Entrants are allowed to ask for a limited amount of help from teachers if they are stuck, but we discourage this as much as possible. When you submit the essay you will be required to declare exactly how much help you received on the essay
• Entrants are allowed to submit more than one essay for the competition, should they wish

How to send through your entry

Entries should be emailed to this email address

(economics.society@lsesu.org)

The final deadline for essays is 1st August 2017

Here is an update from the LSE team (June 2017)

"We have managed to enlist the help of Prof. Christopher Pissarides (Regius Professor at LSE and 2010 Nobel Laureate) to be our final judge for the competition - he will choose our winners and runners up out of our shortlisted entries. Therefore, the essay competition now gives students the opportunity to have their work marked and critiqued by a Nobel Prizewinner. He will also sign the certificates which we give to our shortlisted entries."