LSESU Economics Society Essay Competition

1. Questions

There are a total of 5 questions: 

• Professor Sir Christopher Pissarides: Evidence shows that workers like to work from home, say one day a week, but they hate monitoring devices that the firm might use to see how they allocate their time during the home day. What do you think the firm should do, if it wants to motivate its workers by giving them something that they like, but at the same time ensure it gets its money’s worth during working hours?
• Professor Silvana Tenreyro: Suppose AI reduces the number of people needed to perform a large fraction of jobs, threatening to cause high unemployment. What measures should be put in place to limit inequality in pay (and, ideally, also in hours worked)?
• Professor John Van Reenen: Is it possible and desirable to raise taxation on the top 1%?
• Professor Michael Gmeiner: How will development and adoption of climate-friendly technologies affect inequality and the distribution of wealth?

• Professor Ricardo Reis: Following a sharp rise in UK energy prices, prepare a brief for a central bank on how monetary policy should respond. Take into account that the UK is a net importer of energy, and that the Bank of England has a mandate of keeping inflation steady at 2%.

2. Judging Criteria

Each submission is evaluated in 4 areas: 

• Originality
• Quality of argument
• Writing quality 
• Strength of evidence

3. Prizes

• Award for Top 3 from each question: Certificate signed by LSESU EconSoc President and named professor
• Award for #1 from each question: £50 Amazon Gift Card
• Number 1 Overall: Certificate signed by LSESU EconSoc President AND £100 Amazon Gift Card
• Number 1 Offer Holder: Certificate signed by LSESU EconSoc President and LSE Head of Department of Economics, and £100 Amazon Gift Card

4. Resources

Writing resources can be found on the LSESU website.