Young Economist of the Year

Promit Anwar, a Year 13 Economist, has been announced joint winner of The Royal Economic Society Young Economist of the Year Competition 2008. He will receive a £1,000 prize.

Nearly 400 entries – from as far afield as Singapore – were received for the 2008 competition. The task was to write up to 2,000 words on which economic idea or policy has most power to improve our lives. A wide variety of topics were covered by entrants including investment in sports facilities, the economics of happiness, micro-finance, mass collaboration and feed-in tariffs.

Promit chose international finance policy for his topic. He put the case for the creation of an international currency to supplant the dollar, arguing that this would help economic development by improving investment efficiency, ease macro imbalances and provide an international policy instrument.""

A team of twelve experienced Economics teachers met in June to read and judge every entry, identifying the shortlisted entries. The final judging process was performed by Charles Bean (Deputy Governor, Bank of England), Stephanie Flanders (Economics Editor, BBC) and John Vickers (RES President). The joint winner with Promit was Lizzy Burden from Withington Girls’ School.

Commenting on the results, John Vickers said: "The Young Economist of the Year Competition, now in its second year, has again excited great interest and brought forth impressive talent. Two entries stood out: Promit Anwar’s thoughtful analysis of global reserves policy and Lizzy Burden’s sharp and engaging account of the power of game theory. We are delighted to congratulate and announce Lizzy and Promit as the joint winners of the Royal Economic Society Young Economist of the Year 2008."

The competition was organised for the RES by tutor2u. Commenting on the 2008 competition, tutor2u’s Jim Riley said: "The overall standard of entries for the 2008 Competition was even higher than 2007 and a significant number of high quality entries made it through to the final shortlist. The RES Essay Competition is now firmly established as a challenging and rewarding extension activity for the increasing number of A Level and IB Economics students in the UK and overseas."

Promit has been congratulated by the Mayor of Barnet and received a special invitation to meet the Mayor in person. The official prize-giving is being held at the start of the RES Annual Public Lecture. This year the lecture is being given by Tim Besley (Bank of England MPC) and is being held at The Royal Institution of Great Britain on Tuesday 18th November 2008.