Competitions · Humanities and writing · IEA Student Essay Competition
The IEA Student Essay Competition.
Three questions, and you answer all three. Every other economics essay competition here asks you to pick one - this one wants a full paper across macroeconomics, public economics and finance.
Read this first
All three questions, not one.
This single rule changes the whole shape of the work, and students who assume it works like the other essay competitions submit a third of an entry.
Three questions are published each season
They span different areas of economics - macroeconomics, public economics and financial economics among them - so the entry cannot be built on one specialism.
And every student answers all three
The organisers confirm this directly: each entrant must complete and submit all three. There is no choosing.
Which triples the preparation
Three separate arguments, three sets of evidence, three sets of references. Budget accordingly - this is the largest writing commitment of the four economics competitions here.
But it also spreads the risk
A weak answer on one question does not sink the entry the way a weak single essay would. Consistency across three is what wins.
At a glance
What the competition is.
The Institute of Economic Affairs is a British free-market think tank founded in 1955, whose stated purpose is improving understanding of the institutions of a free society by analysing the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. It has published work by twelve Nobel laureates.
- Who can enter
- Students taking A-levels or the IB. The organisers state both that it is open to such students worldwide and that entrants must be in grades 11 or 12 - confirm if the student is younger
- Nationality
- Unrestricted
- What you submit
- Answers to all three published questions
- Word limit
- A stated limit per question, with a tolerance of 5%. Exceeding it by more is not accepted
- What counts toward it
- Embedded references count toward the word limit. A bibliography does not
- Subjects
- The three questions range across economics - macroeconomics, public economics and financial economics have all appeared
- First prize
- £500, one globally
- Second prize
- £250, three globally
- Deadline
- Published with the questions each season
Who runs it
A think tank with a position, and that is worth knowing.
The IEA does not hide what it is, and an entrant writes better for understanding it.
A free-market think tank
Founded in 1955 to improve understanding of the institutions of a free society by analysing and explaining the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. That is its own description.
With serious academic weight behind it
The Institute has worked with many leading economists and has published papers, books and articles by twelve Nobel laureates.
Which does not mean writing what you think they want
An essay that argues against a market solution, and argues it well with evidence, is answering the question. One that recites free-market conclusions without support is not.
But knowing the frame helps
The questions are set from within a particular tradition. Understanding the debate the question sits inside is part of answering it properly.
The four economics essay competitions
Which one to write for.
All four appear on this site and they are genuinely different. This is the comparison worth making before writing anything.
| Competition | Who can enter | What it asks for |
|---|---|---|
| IEA | A-level and IB students, grades 11-12 | All three published questions, within a strict word limit |
| Marshall Society Cambridge | Anyone pre-university, worldwide | One essay of 1,250 words. Free, and the essay cannot be entered elsewhere |
| LSE Essay Competition | School students worldwide, grades 9-12 | One of five professor-set questions, with AI screening, to the word limit stated in the year’s rules |
| YEEC Royal Economic Society and FT | Years 10-13 in the UK only | 1,000 words in blog form, or a video, podcast or slides |
Note the Marshall Society’s exclusivity rule: an essay entered there cannot go to another competition. If a student is writing one economics essay this year, that is the decision to make first.
Preparation
How Hanlin prepares an IEA entry.
Three answers within a strict limit rewards planning far more than it rewards writing speed.
Counting words as a hard constraint
The tolerance is 5% over the stated limit and no more. Writing to the limit from the start, three times, is easier than cutting three finished pieces.
Watching what counts
Embedded references count toward the word limit while a bibliography does not. That affects how citations should be handled - a decision worth making before writing.
Covering three areas properly
A student strong in macroeconomics still has to answer the public economics and finance questions. The weakest of the three is where the entry is decided.
And treating each as a complete argument
Three short answers, each with a position and evidence. Not three summaries of what economists think.
Why Hanlin
Preparation for IEA Student Essay Competition 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 IEA Student Essay Competition 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 IEA Student Essay Competition 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.
Student results
What Hanlin students got.
Taken from Hanlin's published record of student honours and rewritten in English. Figures are as the organisers reported them.
IEA Student Essay Competition
- 2020A place in the global top 30
The full record, across every subject and year, is on the student honours page.
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 IEA Student Essay Competition, 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
Say which competition or course you are asking about. Replies in Chinese or English.
Or call +86 21 6352 6630FAQ
The IEA competition, briefly answered.
What students and families ask before entering.
Do I answer one question or all of them?
All three. The organisers confirm that every entrant must complete and submit answers to all three published questions.
Who can enter?
Students taking A-levels or the IB. The organisers describe it as open worldwide and also state that entrants must be in grades 11 or 12, so confirm if the student is younger. There is no nationality restriction.
How strict is the word limit?
Strict. Answers may not exceed the stated limit by more than 5%.
Do references count toward the limit?
Embedded references do. A bibliography does not, and the organisers recommend giving the sources you used.
What subjects do the questions cover?
They range across economics - macroeconomics, public economics and financial economics have all appeared. The three questions are published each season.
What are the prizes?
£500 for first place, awarded to one entrant globally, and £250 for second, awarded to three.
Who runs it?
The Institute of Economic Affairs, a British free-market think tank founded in 1955, which has published work by twelve Nobel laureates.
Do I have to agree with the organiser’s views?
No. An argument against a market solution, made well and supported with evidence, is answering the question. Understanding the tradition the question comes from helps you answer it.
Is it worth entering if I do not win?
The essays are usable as a writing sample submitted alongside a university application, and the questions overlap with undergraduate economics - which is a reasonable case for entering on its own terms.
Related
The other economics essay competitions.
Compare before choosing where the essay goes.
IEA enquiries
Three questions, three arguments, one entry.
The IEA asks for the largest body of work of the four economics essay competitions here, and rewards consistency across three areas rather than brilliance in one. Tell us what the student has studied and an advisor will plan the three answers.