Competitions · Humanities and writing · HIEEC
HIEEC, the Harvard International Economics Essay Competition.
Fifteen hundred words, one of four prompts, and each prompt asks three or four separate questions. Do the arithmetic before you start: that is under four hundred words per question.
Read this first
The word limit is the whole difficulty.
Every prompt sets out a situation and then asks three or four substantial questions about it. The essay answering all of them is capped at 1,500 words.
Under 400 words per question
A prompt asking you to evaluate a mechanism, trace its effects on trade and investment, take a position on a policy choice and then propose reforms is four essays compressed into one.
And the limit is enforced by deletion
The organisers state that any words over the limit are simply removed. An essay that runs long does not lose marks - it loses its conclusion.
So the structure has to be decided first
Which of the prompt’s questions gets the most space, and which gets two sentences, is the single most consequential decision in this competition.
Citations do not count
The limit excludes citations, footnotes, the title, headers and footers. Everything else does count.
At a glance
What the competition is.
HIEEC is run jointly by the Harvard Undergraduate Economics Association - the main undergraduate economics body at Harvard, founded in 2000 and entirely student-run - and the Harvard College Economics Review. Entrants use economic theory and real cases to build an argument.
- Who can enter
- Students in grades 9 to 12, anywhere in the world
- Language
- English
- Length
- 1,500 words maximum, excluding citations, footnotes, title, headers and footers
- How many essays
- One. If more than one is submitted, only the first is reviewed
- Fee
- $20 per essay, paid at submission and non-refundable
- Format
- PDF only. Any other format is treated as invalid, with no refund
- Citations
- Required. Chicago or APA. Plagiarism means immediate disqualification
- Outside help
- The essay must be written solely by the entrant. Any outside assistance must be declared at the start or end of the essay
- Exclusivity
- The essay may not be entered in any other competition or published anywhere else
- Feedback
- None is given
- Topics published
- Late October
- Deadline
- Early January, 11:59pm US Eastern
- Results
- A highly commended list in mid-March and the final winners in late March
The four topics
What the prompts ask about.
Four topic areas are published each October and you choose one. The full prompts are on the organiser’s site - what follows is the shape of each. All four are built on current policy questions rather than textbook theory.
| Topic | The kind of question it sets |
|---|---|
| Environment | Market mechanisms for emissions - whether carbon offset markets and nature-based solutions actually reduce emissions, how they affect trade, investment and development, and what would make them credible and fair |
| Inequality | The distribution of gains from automation and generative AI, and whether policies that decouple income from labour would work - with the trade-offs for growth, innovation and social cohesion |
| Workforce and Education | The long-run economics of remote and hybrid work - effects on productivity, urban inequality, housing demand, tax bases and educational priorities |
| Crypto and Finance | Tokenised government bonds and blockchain-based public finance - whether they improve transparency and access or add systemic risk, and how regulators should respond |
Note what these have in common. Each begins with a real policy debate that has credible arguments on both sides, and each asks the entrant to take a position and then propose something. A balanced survey that reaches no conclusion is not answering the question.
How it is judged
Two rounds, and a Nobel laureate reads the top ten.
The judging structure is short and the second stage is unusual for a school competition.
The board reads everything
Essays are judged by the boards of the Harvard Undergraduate Economics Association and the Harvard College Economics Review.
Then the top ten go further
The ten strongest essays are read by Oliver Hart, the Harvard professor who shared the 2016 Nobel Prize in economics.
Winning essays are published
Winners appear in the Review’s online journal, which is a citable outcome rather than a certificate.
And the decision is final, with no feedback
The organisers state that no feedback on essays is provided and that the decision of the two boards and the final round is final.
The rules that cost money
Four conditions worth reading before you pay.
The $20 fee is non-refundable in every circumstance the organisers describe, including circumstances within the entrant’s control.
| Condition | What happens |
|---|---|
| Wrong file format | Only PDF is accepted. Any other format is treated as invalid, and the organisers state there is no refund where an entry fails for this reason |
| Withdrawal | Once registered, the fee is not refundable |
| More than one essay | Only the first is reviewed. Anything submitted afterwards is not looked at |
| Entering it elsewhere | The essay may not be entered in any other competition or published anywhere else. An essay written for HIEEC is committed to HIEEC |
That last row is worth weighing against the calendar. A student who writes one strong economics essay a year cannot send it here and to another competition. Entering also means agreeing that your name may be published on the organisation’s site if you win.
Preparation
How Hanlin prepares a HIEEC essay.
Fifteen hundred words on a genuine policy question is a compression exercise before it is an economics one.
Deciding the argument before writing
Each prompt asks several questions and there is not room to treat them equally. Choosing which one carries the essay - and answering the others in service of it - is what turns four short answers into one argument.
Using real cases, not just theory
The organisers ask for economic theory applied to real situations, and welcome data-driven work. A named case with numbers attached does more in a hundred words than a paragraph of general theory.
Drafting long, then cutting hard
Getting to 1,500 words from 2,500 produces a much sharper essay than writing to length. The cutting is where the argument gets found.
And getting the citations right
Chicago or APA, and they do not count toward the limit - so cite properly and generously. Plagiarism is an immediate disqualification.
Why Hanlin
Preparation for HIEEC at Hanlin is taught by full-time subject tutors, on a course tier chosen by placement paper rather than by year group.
Programme formats
Five ways this is taught.
Group size is the whole difference between these. It decides how much of the tutor's attention a student gets and how far the course can bend to them, so it is worth choosing rather than accepting.
| Format | Group size | What it suits |
|---|---|---|
| One-to-one | One student | Content, pace and emphasis set by what this student actually needs rather than by a syllabus. The only format that can be rebuilt mid-course. |
| Small group | Three to eight | Opens at three. Frequent discussion, and the tutor can slow down or move on according to what the group has absorbed. Most students chasing a higher award are taught in this one. |
| Class | Eight to twelve | Taught by the subject lead or a medal coach. Less back-and-forth, so it suits a student who will say when something is unclear. |
| Large class | Ten to twenty | For students in the middle of the placement range, and a way to try a competition before committing. Students often move to a small group or to one-to-one afterwards. |
| Past-paper class | No cap | Past papers worked through in sequence in the weeks before the sitting. Free to students already enrolled. |
Course length for HIEEC is set after a placement paper. The gap between where a student is and what the paper asks for is what the course has to close, and that gap is not the same for two students in the same year group.
How it runs
Six steps, four people on your side.
The same process for every student, so that nothing depends on one tutor remembering to do it.
Step 1Pre-course assessment
A placement paper before anything is booked, so the course tier is chosen on evidence rather than on a year group.
Step 2Tutor matching
A subject tutor is matched to the result, and their full background is provided before you agree to it.
Step 3Plan and group
A study group opens with four people on one student: the tutor, a planner, a supervisor and an academic manager.
Step 4Scheduled teaching
The teaching office sets the timetable around the competition date and school term, and teaching begins.
Step 5After-class reports
What was covered, and how the student handled it, reported after every lesson.
Step 6Homework follow-up
The teaching assistant and the form teacher both check that homework is done, which is where most preparation quietly fails.
Free resource pack
Past questions and writing pack
The same material our own HIEEC students work from. Scan the code, say what you need, and an advisor sends it.
Tell an advisor which competition and year group, and the material comes back the same day. Free, and you do not have to enrol in anything. If we do not already hold what you need, we will go and find it.
- PDFEvery past question the competition has set
- PDFShortlisted and published essays, to calibrate the standard
- PDFStructure, referencing and word-count guide
- PDFEntry checklist and the dates for the current cycle
Teaching team
Who would teach it.
Three of the twenty-two tutors on the published Hanlin roster - the ones whose subject this is.
Zhang
Master's in engineering management from NYU and a double degree in finance and supply-chain management from Syracuse. Nearly nine years overseas and in finance, including at a well-known venture firm - experience that feeds scenario-based teaching. College Board-accredited.
Bai
Master's in social entrepreneurship from Hult International Business School in San Francisco and a business administration degree from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, with an exchange at Texas A&M's Mays Business School. Accredited by the College Board, Cambridge International and the IBO, a certified intermediate economist, and a judge at the 2020 Diamond Challenge global final and the 2021 NEC China final.
Jiang
Master's in business analytics from the Schulich School of Business, a finance and business economics degree from York University and a software engineering degree from the Harbin Institute of Technology. Years in North America, university teaching before returning, and long experience across the whole economics curriculum.
Where it is taught
Hanlin learning centres.
Teaching runs from Hanlin's own centres in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou, and online for students elsewhere.
Talk to an advisor
Everything Hanlin does for HIEEC, in one conversation.
Entry, planning, coaching and the past papers. An advisor will tell you which of these a student actually needs, including when the answer is none of them.
Competition entry and planning
Which competitions suit this student, in what order, and by when - then we handle the registration, including the ones that can only be entered through a school or a centre.
Competition coaching
Taught by full-time subject tutors, on a course tier chosen by placement paper rather than by year group.
International curriculum tutoring
IB, AP, A-Level, IGCSE and the US high school curriculum, taught alongside school and timed around the exam calendar.
Competition past papers, free
A large library of past papers, mark schemes and syllabus breakdowns across every competition on this site. No charge and no enrolment.
Scan to add an advisor
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HIEEC, briefly answered.
What students and families ask before entering.
Who can enter?
Students in grades 9 to 12 anywhere in the world, writing in English.
How long can the essay be?
1,500 words maximum, excluding citations, footnotes, the title, headers and footers. Anything over the limit is removed rather than penalised.
How many essays can I submit?
One. If more than one is submitted, only the first is reviewed.
What does it cost?
$20 per essay, paid at submission. It is not refundable - including where an entry fails because it was submitted in the wrong format.
What format is required?
PDF only. Any other format is treated as invalid.
What citation style?
Chicago or APA. Citations are required, and plagiarism results in immediate disqualification.
Can I get help with the essay?
The essay must be written solely by the entrant. Any outside assistance must be declared at the beginning or end of the essay.
Can I submit the same essay elsewhere?
No. The essay may not be entered in any other competition or published anywhere else.
Who judges it?
The boards of the Harvard Undergraduate Economics Association and the Harvard College Economics Review. The top ten essays are then read by Oliver Hart, the Harvard professor who shared the 2016 Nobel Prize in economics.
Will I get feedback?
No. The organisers state that no feedback is provided and that the decision is final.
What do winners receive?
Publication in the Review’s online journal. Entering also means agreeing that your name may be published on the organisation’s website if you win.
When does it run?
The four topics are published in late October, the deadline is in early January at 11:59pm US Eastern, a highly commended list follows in mid-March and the final winners in late March.
Related
Other essay and economics competitions.
What students enter alongside HIEEC.
HIEEC enquiries
Four questions, fifteen hundred words, one argument.
The prompts are real policy debates and the limit is unforgiving, so the work is deciding what the essay is actually arguing before a word is written. Tell us which topic interests the student and an advisor will help find the argument.