Team’s prescription for UK budget wins them a place in the final of leading UK Economics competition

Four sixth-formers reached the national final of a prestigious competition with their detailed plan for building on the UK’s strengths and resolving its economic woes.

The Year 12 Economics students were among only eight teams from a 173-strong field to make it to the final of the Institute of Economic Affairs and Vinson Centre Budget Challenge.

They had first swept through the initial round to win a place in the semi-final, where they emerged successfully from a face-to-face grilling on their proposals.

Head of Economics Krishna Shah said: “These four students not only demonstrated a strong grasp of current economic conditions, but also set out a credible strategy and some detailed proposals for dealing with the UK’s economic issues. Our congratulations go to all four of them on reaching the final in this well-respected competition.”

Economics is a popular A-level choice at QE. In 2025, 21 candidates secured places to read Economics at university, while ten of the 44 offers of places from Oxbridge this year were for Economics, either on its own, or as part of a wider degree, such as Oxford’s Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) course.

The IEA Budget Challenge aims to help young people: learn more about Economics; sharpen their writing, research and analytical skills; and better understand policy issues facing national decision-makers. There is a top prize of £1,000.

For the first round of the challenge, Peter Atanasov, Shreyas lyengar, Aditya Karmarkar and Ahsan Rahman had to submit a 5,000-word entry giving:

• Their analysis of UK macroeconomic conditions and prospects for the next two years
• An outline of what they considered to be the main economic goals and their broad strategy for pursuing them
• A proposed budget, setting out taxes and other sources of revenue, expected levels of spending by department, and details of expected borrowing (if any).

Their entry secured them one of 12 team places in the semi-final held at the University of Buckingham. Here, they were tasked with creating a presentation on their proposed budget.

They had ten minutes to present their revenue-raising policies, which included a move to asset-based taxation. There were also Government spending measures, such as competition policies and supply-side policies which included spending on education and vocational training.

The four were then subjected to a rapid ten minutes of questions-and-answers from their distinguished panellists Dr Steve Davies, Senior Education Fellow at the IEA (an educational charity and free-market think tank) and Professor Juan Castaneda, Director of the Vinson Centre – a research and knowledge exchange base at Buckingham.

In the final at the IEA’s headquarters in Westminster, the team delivered a presentation on the evaluation of their budget, on alternative methods they could use in the future, and on some constraints they had not considered before.

Afterwards, all four pupils reflected positively on their experience. Ahsan said: “Taking part in competitions like this gives you greater insight into how UK budgets work.” Peter benefitted from “…thinking about and understanding the changing economic landscape towards sustainability”.

Aditya enjoyed developing his teamwork and collaboration skills. And, after facing two rounds of Q&As, Shreyas said: “It certainly helps you develop the way in which you respond to rapid-fire questions under pressure and thinking on the spot!”