The Marshall Society Essay Competition

1. Competition Format

Participants are to submit an essay response to one of the following questions:

1. Donald Trump recently said “interest rates should be at least two to three points lower.” Should the monetary policy mandate be given to the government?
2. Why could no economist predict Argentina’s miraculous economic comeback?
3. Is corruption always economically harmful? Discuss with reference to both theory and empirical evidence.
4. Margaret Thatcher questioned whether trade unions achieved their purpose “to improve living standards, prospects, security and general well-being of working people”. To what extent do trade unions today serve the well-being of workers and promote the overall health of the labour market?
5. To what extent can mathematical modelling capture the complexity of human behaviour?
6. How has the democratisation of finance (i.e., higher participation from ‘retail’ investors post pandemic) affected US equity markets?
7. Milton Friedman argued that competition in markets is generally welfare enhancing. Do you think this is always true?
8. How can the UK government address the housing crisis? Are current policies doing enough?
9. Evaluate the effectiveness of British fiscal and monetary policy in responding to the economic crisis in the first half of the 20th century.

2. Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation criteria include:

• Logic and persuasiveness of the arguments.
• Quality of evidence used to support points.
• Originality of ideas.

3. Prizes

Prizes are as follows:

• First place: £100
• Finalists: £50
• Commendation: No monetary prize, awarded to excellent submissions shortlisted for finalist.

Selected winning essays will be featured in the Marshall Society’s annual publication, The Dismal Scientist.