The Marshall Society, the economics society of the University of Cambridge, is excited to announce the winner of its 2024 essay competition! 

We were incredibly impressed by the over 1000 exceptional entries this year. All students who participated should be very proud of themselves for entering, and it was extraordinarily difficult to select our award winners from all this year’s fantastic essays.

WINNER

Congratulations to Mo Gao from Westminster School, the winner of the Marshall Society Essay Competition 2024. We applaud their brilliant essay on: In the face of disinflation, policymakers are hesitant to reduce interest rates. Is this in line with economic theory?

FINALISTS

Huang, Pei-Chiau from MPW Cambridge for their entry on: To what extent is a merger between two big firms beneficial to consumers?

Ziyue Xie from Bryanston School for their entry on: “In an efficient market, at any point in time, the actual price of a security will be a good estimate of its intrinsic value.” – Eugene Fama. To what extent does this apply today?

Yunshan Zhong from No.2 High School of East China Normal University for their entry on: Why did Britain choose to return to the $4.86 gold standard rate in 1925? Was this the right decision?

COMMENDATIONS

Furthermore, we are proud to announce this year’s commended entries for each question.

Question 1: In the face of disinflation, policymakers are hesitant to reduce interest rates. Is this in line with economic theory?

Jiale Feng from Ulink college of Shanghai

Lucas Goh Zheng Rui from Anglo-Chinese School 

Chloe Dong from Beijing No. 8 High School

Joven Tan Yan Yu from Raffles Institution

Question 2: What are the causes and consequences of low fertility rates in advanced economies? How can we combat them?

Tan Min Heng from Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar

Fangyuan Cao from Miramonte High School

Erica Chen from Mulgrave School, The International School of Vancouver

Ruby Chuang from Taipei Kuei Shan School

Xinyue (Chloe) Zhang from Cheltenham Ladies College

Reva Batra from Magdalen College School

Jaewook Kim from Dulwich College Seoul

Amelie Rogers from Kendrick School

Qiyao Zhao from Runnymede College, Madrid

Question 3: Is the attention economy necessarily harmful? 

Chen Yuxin from Shenzhen College of International Education

Ziye Li from Veritas Scholars Academy

David Naylor from The Cherwell School

Gianluca Vinciguerra from Städtisches Gymnasium Sedanstraße

Boran Xing from Nanjing No.1 Middle School

Peiyuan Xiu from Ulink School of Shanghai

Zijie Hong from Beijing 101 middle school

Question 4: To what extent is a merger between two big firms beneficial to consumers?

Guan Sixuan from Raffles Institution

Luke Wang from Phillips Exeter Academy

Rong Yu, Xu from Shenzhen College of International Education

Joshua Andrew from Anglo-Chinese School

Boris Shippey from Radley College

Wu Xintong from Shenzhen College of International Education

Jianing Wang from Ulink College of Shanghai

Question 5: “In an efficient market, at any point in time, the actual price of a security will be a good estimate of its intrinsic value.” – Eugene Fama. To what extent does this apply today?

Churuo Xia from Shrewsbury School

Ross Gallo from Chapel Hill High School

Xiang Jiayi from Guanghua Cambridge International School

Yunyang Zhang from Henrietta Barnett School

Question 6: Why did Britain choose to return to the $4.86 gold standard rate in 1925? Was this the right decision?

Yiran Zhu from the Chinese International School

Ivan Valtchev from Stuyvesant High School

Austin Jiji from The Cooper School

Question 7: Has the field of Economics become too mathematical? Is this a problem?

Raymond Zhang from Hangzhou Bay Bilingual School

XinRan Yan from Beijing New Talent Academic Cambridge International Centre

Aoife Isabella Barker from Ashton Sixth Form College

Long Yi Marc Wang from The Manchester Grammar School

Wanqing Emily Su from Tsinghua International School

Adrian Tai Li-Aun from Sunway College Kuala Lumpur

OGC RESEARCH AWARD

Qinhe Yang from Shenzhen College of International Education

Duoyao Zhang from The Alice Smith School

Shelly Shen from Queen Ethelburga’s College

Amy Zhang from Southridge Senior School

Xinning Zhang from Shenzhen College of International Education

Yuxin Xu from Shenghua Zizhu Academy

Monica Chen from Shanghai New Epoch Bilingual School

Jianheng Lin from Edward R. Murrow High School

Jiaqi Lu from Shanghai Concord Bilingual School

Thank you so much to all those who took the time to enter and thank you for your patience. We apologise for the delay in publishing results and look forward to seeing if next year’s entries can match the remarkable standard of yours. 

Special thanks to Dev Goyal and the whole Marshall Society Committee for their help in marking.

Thanks again to our all those who entered and to our sponsor of the 2024 Marshall Society Essay Competition, Cambridge Global Connect (http://www.camgc-edu.com).

Cambridge Global Connect are a subsidiary of Oxbridge Global Connect, an award-winning education technology platform and research think tank founded at the University of Cambridge that offers premier tutoring services.