馬歇爾經濟論文競賽

1. 競賽形式

參與者需選擇下列問題中的1題，提交一篇論文回答，以下為2025年比賽題目：

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? 唐納德·川普最近表示：「利率至少應該降低兩到三個百分點。」 貨幣政策的制定權是否應該交由政府掌控？
2. Why could no economist predict Argentina’s miraculous economic comeback? 為什麼沒有經濟學家能預測阿根廷經濟的奇蹟式復甦？
3. Is corruption always economically harmful? Discuss with reference to both theory and empirical evidence. 貪腐是否總是對經濟有害？請結合理論與實證證據討論。
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? 瑪格麗特·柴契爾質疑工會是否真正達成「提升勞工生活水準、前景、安全及整體福祉」的目標。現今工會在多大程度上為勞工謀福利，並促進整體勞動市場的健康？
5. To what extent can mathematical modelling capture the complexity of human behaviour? 數學建模能在多大程度上捕捉人類行為的複雜性？
6. How has the democratisation of finance (i.e., higher participation from ‘retail’ investors post pandemic) affected US equity markets? 金融民主化（例如疫情後「散戶」投資者參與度提高）對美國股市產生了哪些影響？
7. Milton Friedman argued that competition in markets is generally welfare enhancing. Do you think this is always true? 米爾頓·佛利民主張市場競爭通常能提升社會福利。你認為這觀點是否始終成立？
8. How can the UK government address the housing crisis? Are current policies doing enough? 英國政府該如何解決住房危機？現行政策是否足夠？
9. Evaluate the effectiveness of British fiscal and monetary policy in responding to the economic crisis in the first half of the 20th century. 評估英國在20世紀上半葉，對經濟危機所採取的財政與貨幣政策的成效。

2. 評估標準

評估標準包括：

• 論文論點的邏輯性、說服力
• 支持論點的證據質量
• 觀點的原創性

3. 獎項設置

獎品如下：

• 冠軍First place：100 英鎊獎金
• 決賽入圍獎Finalists：50 英鎊獎金
• 讚揚獎Commendation：無獎金，獎項將頒發給入圍決賽的優秀作品

入選的獲獎文章將在馬歇爾學會的年度出版物The Dismal Scientist中發表。