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The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) invites UK school students to write about big economic challenges by 28 June 2024.
Opportunity Details
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) coordinates the UK’s diplomatic relationships, promotes UK interests abroad, and manages the UK’s overseas development budget.
The Next Generation Economics competition is managed by the FCDO in collaboration with the Hub for Equal Representation (HER) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Economics is important to our work, whether it is evaluating the sustainability of the UK’s international climate change commitments or analysing the contribution of the UK in reducing global poverty through aid programmes. Economics helps the FCDO make the most of each pound of taxpayer money.
The FCDO invites UK school students to write about the biggest economic challenges facing their generation. The competition is open until 28 June 2024.
We want:
to hear your ideas on one of the biggest economic challenges facing your generation. The FCDO represents UK interests across the world, and our economists work on finding and analysing solutions to global challenges
to inspire the next generation of economists. Our competition aims to demonstrate how economics is a vital tool for answering important, urgent policy questions
the next generation of economists to be even more diverse and open-minded than the current generation. We encourage you to enter the competition, whatever your background (and however much you know about economics). Find out more about diversity in the economics profession
Watch the video: FCDO Next Generation Economics Competition
To enter, submit your letter responding to 1 out of these 4 questions:
2023 Nobel Prize laureate Claudia Goldin states that unequal division of caregiving and household responsibilities play a key role in gender pay gap. What policies could governments implement to increase female participation in the paid economy?
International efforts to reduce carbon emissions increase demand for clean energy technology and critical minerals. How could material rich developing countries capitalize on the demand for critical minerals to boost growth?
Climate change plus the impact of global conflict on international supply chains has enhanced risk on food security. What market intervention can governments across the world take to mitigate food security risk?
According to the UN, 3.3 billion people now live in countries where debt interest payments are greater than expenditure on health or education. What actions could governments globally take to ensure debt does not prevent investment towards development?
We will announce the competition results in July 2024. There are several prizes on offer:
The winner will present their essay to Adnan Khan, FCDO Chief Economist.
The top 8 entrants will be offered a fully-funded visit to the FCDO and the London School of Economics in London. They will also meet with one of the co-directors of the Hub for Equal Representation at the LSE. Fully-funded visits are only available to UK-based entrants.
We will publish the letters of the winner and runners up on the GOV.UK website and share them across the Government Economic Service.
The top 25 entrants will each receive an economics book, chosen from a shortlist selected by the FCDO Chief Economist.
To enter, you must be:
You do not need to be studying or have studied economics.
Entering the competition is free.
Writing tips and links to helpful sources can be found in the ‘Useful information’ section.
Email your completed FCDO Next Generation Economics Entry Template (ODT, 6.7 KB) to [email protected] by 11:59pm on 28 June 2024.
We will announce the results on this webpage in July 2024.
Do not include any personal information in the main part of your letter. This allows us to mark entries anonymously and as fairly as possible. You should include this in the covering email instead.
Your entry should:
Entries can include graphs and graphics, but these are not essential.
You can ask an economics teacher for advice on the themes they plan to cover, economic concepts, recommended sources and writing styles.
Find more information about writing like an economist and where to find useful sources.
The FCDO Next Generation Economics Entry Template (ODT, 6.7 KB) includes a table at the top with information including your name, age and school. Fill this in, remove it from the template and include it in your email to us.
How to do this:
1. Fill in the entry template
2. Select and cut completed template
3. Create email
4. Paste completed template into to email
5. Attach entry and email it to [email protected]