economics essay competition 2021 year 12

Harvard International Economics

Essay contest (hieec).

HIEEC provides students the opportunity to demonstrate an accomplished level of writing and understanding of economic theory. Through the contest, students hone their academic and professional skills and exhibit their knowledge. 

HIEE C 202 3 -2024

Hieec 2023-2024 is now closed. .

The 2023-2024  Harvard International Economics Essay Contest is sponsored by the Harvard Undergraduate Economics Association (HUEA). This essay competition is open to high school studen ts of any year and is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrat e an accom plished level of writing and understanding of economic the ory. T hrough the contest, student competitors hone their academic and professional skills and exhibit their knowledge to future employers and academic programs. 

Competitors must construct a convincing argument using economic theory and real-world examples. Winning essays will be published on our website  and will be available for the greater Harvard community to read. Essays should focus on argumentation supported with facts and references, although data-based support is also welcome.

Yiheng Lyu​

Audrey Ku k​

Hyoungjin Jin

Juyoung Chun

Kevin Zhang

Matthew Choi

Mikayil Sadikhov

Raunak Agarwal

Vallabh Himakunthala

Highly Commended

Aronima Biswas

Aryan Nangia

Kridaya Gupta

Leonardo Jia

Rohan Mathur

Anagha Chakravarti

Amberlynn Gong

Neha Shanavas

Donghyeon Oh

2023-2024  Essay Questions

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to affect growth, inequality, productivity, innovation, and employment. OpenAI’s ChatGPT, in particular, has greatly increased public awareness about the significance of AI and its implications for the future. What impact will the development of AI have on economic inequality, the composition of the workforce, and economic output as a whole? How can nations prepare for the micro and macroeconomic changes brought about by AI?

Measuring national and global economic activity allows us to understand how economies change in size and structure—how they grow and contract. In addition to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), government budgets, and the money supply, alternatives like the Human Development Index (HDI) and Gross National Income (GNI) are used to assess economic progress. What are the advantages of our current economic indices, including GDP, HDI, GNI, government budgets, and the money supply, and in what areas are they lacking? Which of these indices do you find most helpful, and how can we enhance or combine them to improve our understanding of economic measurement?

Proponents of income redistribution support the idea that redistribution policies will increase economic stability and give more opportunities to the less wealthy. Others, however, are more skeptical and believe it could have negative consequences for economic growth. Current methods of redistribution include taxation, welfare, public services, and other monetary policies. What strategies for income redistribution should the U.S. adopt from other countries? What economic impacts could a wealth tax or super millionaire tax have? What type of redistribution is most effective and feasible? What would be the impacts of the U.S. enacting universal basic income? Discuss the implications of any of these issues and feel free to expand on other areas of economic redistribution.

As the United States weighs the impacts of China’s rise to global prominence, economics and national security have become increasingly intertwined. As a result, the United States government has imposed both tariffs and investment restrictions on China to limit the nation’s access to both US markets and intellectual property (specifically in sensitive industries such as semiconductors). What are the economic implications of these policies for United States firms, consumers, and workers? Discuss the most important perspectives of the US-China trade war and provide suggestions on how both countries can manage the prospect of a changing economic order.

2nd November 2023 – Essay titles released

11:59pm EST 5th January 2024  – Essay submission deadline

Late February 2024*  – Highly Commended and Finalists notified

Early March 2024 * – Winners notified, results published on the website

*We received a high volume of submissions, therefore we anticipate  that it will take us a couple m ore w eeks to release the results. 

Entrants must choose one of the four prompts and write a response to it with a strict limit of 1500 words. Submission must be via the HUEA website and entrants are limited to submitting one essay with only the first submission being considered. Each essay submission will have a $20 reading fee which should be paid upon submission of the essay. If this fee will impose a significant financial burden on your family, please email us. The deadline for submitting the essay is 11:59pm EST January 5th, 2024. ​

Please submit essay submissions via this form.

If the above link does not work, use:  https://forms.gle/9NVDu9WVbU71iPpq6

*Be sure to read all the details in the submission form carefully before submitting, as failure to complete any of the steps correctly may result in your submission not being considered.

The essays will be judged by the board of the HUEA, with the top 10 submissions being adjudicated by the esteemed Harvard professor and 2016 Economics Nobel Prize winner Oliver Hart.

The top three winning essays will be published ( with the author’s permission) on our website. A finalist s list of the top  submissions will be published online and adjudicated by 2016 Economics Nobel Prize Winner Oliver Hart. A list of names that will receive the "Highly Commended" distinction will also be published online​. The judges' decisions are final.

Terms and Conditions

The word limit of 1500 must be strictly adhered to. Any words past the limit will be truncated. This limit excludes references, footnotes, titles, headers and footers.

Essays must be written only by the entrant. Any outside assistance must be declared in the beginning or end of the essay.

Only your first submission will be accepted. Any further submissions will not be read.

References must be included, and any plagiarism will lead to disqualification.

References must be in Chicago or APA format. 

The only accepted document formatting is PDF. Any other format will not be accepted, nor will refunds be given to those who do not follow this rule.

No refunds are granted.

Grades 9-12 are permitted.

The essay must not be entered in any other competition nor be published elsewhere.

No individual feedback of essays will be granted.

The decisions made by HUEA by the final round of adjudication are final.

All winners agree to their names being published on the HUEA website.

Past Winners

2022  prompts an d winners.

In recent years and decades, many countries have seen fertility rates drop, potentially leading to falling populations. Currently, China has a fertility rate of 1.3, one of the lowest in the world. However, in 2021, China experienced GDP growth of 8% with output totaling $17.7 trillion. Will this lowered fertility rate (with potential to fall further) affect China’s economic growth and policy? How so? What, if anything, can the Chinese government do to limit the risk of falling fertility rates?

U.S. mortgage rates recently passed 7%, making the purchase of a new home increasingly unaffordable. Meanwhile, the United States has suffered from a chronic shortage of available housing for decades, particularly in urban areas, leading to what many scholars and advocates call an affordability crisis. Why is housing so unaffordable in the U.S.? What can (or should) be done by private actors, state and local governments, and the federal government to alleviate the affordability crisis?

It is often suggested that a tradeoff exists between economic growth and the health of the environment, especially now as the threat of climate change becomes more dire. What economic risks does a changing climate pose? Can economic growth be consistent with a healthy environment? What policies, either market-based or otherwise, should governments enact to protect the environment while posing the least danger to economic efficiency? 

Central banks such as the Federal Reserve in the U.S. and the Bank of England in the UK manage their nation’s macroeconomies with the goal of ensuring price stability and maximum employment. Globally, inflation rates are rising to levels not seen since the 1980s, particularly in the U.S. and European countries. To what extent should the monetary policies of central banks in various Western countries differ or resemble one another as a reaction to the specific causes of inflation facing their economies?

​ Click below to view each winner's essay

Ashwin t elang  *   nanxi jiang   *   duncan wong, 2019 wi n ner.

https://www.economicsreview.org/post/when-is-one-choice-one-t oo-many

2020 Winners

https://www.economicsreview.org/post/covid-19-and-the-market

https://www.economicsreview.org/post/automation-and-jobs-this-time-is-different

https://www.economicsreview.org/post/making-rational-decisions

• Economic Essays Grade 12

Grade 12 Economic Essays for the Next Three-Year Cycle (2021-2023)

• Discuss in detail the markets within the FOUR-SECTOR model (Circular Flow)

Discuss in detail 'The new economic paradigm'/Explain the 'smoothing of cycles (Business Cycles)

Discuss in detail the features underpinning forecasting (Business Cycles)

Discuss in detail the main objectives of the public sector in the economy (Public Sector)

Discuss in detail the reason(s) for public sector failure (link them to typical problems experienced through public sector provisioning) (Public Sector)

Discuss in detail the reasons for international trade (Foreign Exchange Markets)

• Discuss in detail export promotion (Protectionism and FreeTrade)

Discuss in detail the arguments in favour of protectionism (Protectionism and Free Trade)

Discuss in detail the demand-side approach in promoting growth and development in South Africa (Growth and development)

Discuss in detail the following South African growth and development policies and strategic initiatives (Growth and development)

Discuss in detail South Africa's initiaties (endeavours) in regional development (Industrial Development Policies)

Discuss in detail the following economic indicators (Economic and Social Performance Indicators

Discuss in detail the following social indicators (Economic and Social Performance Indicators)

Discuss in detail the various equilibrium positions with the aid of graphs-PERFECT MARKET (Perfect Market)

• Discuss the monopoly in detail (with/without the aid of graphs) (Imperfect Market)

Examine the oligopoly in detail (Imperfect Market)

• Compare and contrast any TWO types of market structures  

Discuss in detail how the following factors lead to the misallocation of resources in the market (Market Failures)

Discuss in detail state intervention as a consequence of market failures, with the aid of relevant graphs (Market Failures)

Discuss in detail the consequences of inflation (Inflation)

Discuss in detail the measures to combat demand-pull and/or cost-push inflation (Inflation)

Examine in detail the effects of tourism (Tourism)

Examine in detail the benefits of tourism (Tourism)

Discuss in detail how the government can ensure sustainable development (Environmental Sustainability)

• Discuss in detail the following problems and the international measures taken to ensure sustainable development (Environmental Sustainability)

ESSAYS FOR THE NEXT THREE-YEAR CYCLE (2021-2023)

Macroeconomics- paper1.

Discuss in detail the markets within the FOUR-SECTOR model (Circular Flow) INTRODUCTION The economy of a country is regarded as an open economy because of the presence of households, producers, government, foreign sector and financial sector as active participants in the economy. Markets link the participants in the economy 🗸🗸 [Max 2]

BODY: MAIN PART PRODUCT / GOODS/ OUTPUT MARKET🗸

• These are the markets for consumer goods and services🗸🗸
• Goods are defined as tangible items, like food, clothes, cars, etc. that satisfies some human wants or needs🗸🗸
• Buying and selling of goods that are produced in markets e.g. 🗸🗸
• Capital Goods market for trading of buildings and machinery🗸🗸
• Consumer goods market for trading of durable consumer goods, semi-durable consumer goods and non-durable consumer goods. 🗸🗸
• Services are defined as non-tangible actions and include wholesale and retail, transport and financial markets. 🗸🗸

FACTOR / RESOURCE/ INPUT MARKETS🗸

• Households sell factors of production on the markets: rent for natural resources, wages for labour interest for capital and profit for entrepreneurship🗸🗸
• The factor market includes the labour, property and financial markets. 🗸🗸
• The market where services of factors of production are traded e.g. labour is hired and capital is borrowed – these services earn wages, interest, rent and profits🗸🗸

FINANCIAL MARKETS🗸

• They are not directly involved in the production of good and services, but act as a link between households , the business sector and other participants with surplus finds🗸🗸
• E.g. banks, insurance companies and pension funds🗸

MONEY MARKETS🗸

• In the money markets short term loans, and very short term funds are saved and borrowed by consumers and business enterprises 🗸🗸
• Products sold in the market are bank debentures, treasury bills and government bonds 🗸🗸
• The simplest form exists when parties make demand and short-term deposits and borrow on short term 🗸🗸
• The SARB is the key institution in the money market🗸🗸

CAPITAL MARKETS🗸

• In the capital markets long term funds are borrowed and saved by consumers and the business sector🗸🗸
• The Johannesburg Security Exchange (JSE) is a key institution in the capital 🗸🗸
• Products sold in this market are mortgage bonds and shares🗸🗸

FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKETS🗸

• On the foreign exchange markets businesses buy/ sell foreign currency to pay for imported goods and services🗸🗸
• These transactions occur in banks and consists of electronic money transfers from one account to another🗸🗸
• The leading centres/ most important foreign exchange markets are in London, New York and Tokyo 🗸🗸
• e.g. traveller’s cheques to travel abroad🗸
• Flows of private and public goods and services are real flows and they are accompanied by counter flows of expenditure and taxes on the product market🗸🗸
• Factor services are real flows and they are accompanied by counter flows of income on the factor market🗸🗸
• Imports and exports are real flows and are accompanied by counter flows of expenditure and revenue on the foreign exchange market🗸🗸[Max 26]
• A change in investment of R 10m will result in a change in income of R 20m🗸🗸
• An increase in investment causes the expenditure function to shift upwards from C1 to C2 so that C1 is parallel to C2🗸🗸
• The effect of the increase in investment is that the total expenditure will increase from R 20m to R 30m🗸🗸
• The increase in the value of output (Y) is greater than the increase in the expenditure (E) 🗸🗸 (Explanation must comply with the figures supplied in the graphical presentation) [Max 4] [Max 10]

CONCLUSION The circular flow ensures continued interdependence and coordination of the economic activities in the economy / markets are critically important institutions in our economic system, because they regulate the supply and demand and safeguard price stability and general business confidence. 🗸🗸 [Any other relevant conclusion] [Max 2]

INTRODUCTION The new economic paradigm in terms of the smoothing of business cycles discourages monetary policy makers from using monetary and fiscal policies to fine tune the economy but rather encourages achieving stability through sound long term decisions relating to demand and supply in the economy/smoothing out the painful part of economic down-fall that is part of the market economy🗸🗸 (Accept other relevant definition/description of smoothing/new economic paradigm). [Max 2]

BODY: MAIN PART The new economic paradigm is embedded in the demand and supply side policies. 🗸🗸

Demand-side policies

• It focuses on aggregate demand in the economy🗸🗸
• When households, firms and the government spend more, demand in the economy increases. 🗸🗸
• This makes the economy grow but lead to inflation.🗸🗸
• Aggregate demand increases more quickly than aggregate supply and this causes price increases. 🗸🗸
• If the supply does not react to the increase in demand, prices will increase. 🗸🗸
• This will lead to inflation (a sustained and considerable in the general price level) 🗸🗸

Unemployment:

• Demand-side policies are effective in stimulating economic growth. 🗸🗸
• Economic growth can lead to an increase in demand for labour. 🗸🗸
• As a result more people will be employed and unemployment will increase. 🗸🗸
• As unemployment decreases inflation is likely to increase. 🗸🗸
• This relationship between unemployment and inflation is illustrated in the Phillips curve. 🗸🗸
• The PC curve shows the initial situation. A is the point of intersection of the PC curve with the x- axis. It shows the natural rate of unemployment, for instance 14%🗸🗸
• At point A inflation rate is zero. 🗸🗸
• If unemployment falls to C for instance, 8%, inflation caused by wage increases is at 6%.🗸🗸
• If unemployment increases from C to B to A, inflation falls from 6% to 2% to 0%.🗸🗸

Supply-side policies Reduction of costs 🗸

• Infrastructural services: reasonable charge and efficient transport, communication, water
• services and energy supply. 🗸🗸
• Administrative costs: these costs include inspection, reports on applications
• of various laws, regulations and by-laws, tax returns and returns providing statistical
• information.
• It adds to costs and businesses carry a heavy burden 🗸🗸
• Cash incentives: it includes subsidies for businesses to locate in neglected areas where unemployment is high and compensation to exporters for certain costs they
• incurred in development of export markets. 🗸🗸

Improving the efficiency of inputs 🗸

• Tax rates: low tax rates can serve as an incentive to workers. It will improve the productivity and output. 🗸🗸
• Capital consumption: replacing capital goods regularly creates opportunities for businesses to keep up with technological development and better outputs🗸🗸
• Human resource development: to improve the quality of manpower by improving health care, education and training. 🗸🗸
• Free advisory service: these promote opportunities to export. 🗸🗸

Improving the efficiency of markets 🗸

• Deregulation: removal of laws, regulations and by-laws and other forms of government controls makes the market free. 🗸🗸
• Competition: encourages the establishment of new businesses 🗸🗸
• Levelling the play field: private businesses cannot compete with public enterprises 🗸🗸 Answers must be in full sentences and well described with examples to be able to obtain 2 marks per fact. Learners should be awarded 1 mark per heading or sub-heading to a maximum of 8 marks. (8 x 1) (8) [Max 26]

Explanation: The above graph shows:

• Aggregate demand (AD) and aggregate supply (AS) are in equilibrium at point C. 🗸🗸
• If aggregate demand is stimulated so that it moves to AD1 and aggregate supply responds promptly and relocates at AS1; a larger real output becomes available without any price increases. 🗸🗸
• Supply is often sticky and fixed in the short term. 🗸🗸
• Therefore, if aggregate demand increases to AD1 and aggregate supply does not respond, intersection is at point F. Real production increases but so does the price, in other words, with more inflation. 🗸🗸
• The aggregate demand locates at any position to the left of AS1 inflation prevails. 🗸🗸
• The solution is to create conditions that ensure supply is more flexible. 🗸🗸
• If the cost of increasing production is completely flexible, a great real output can be supplied at any given price level. 🗸🗸 [Max 10]

CONCLUSION It is clear from the discussion above that it is critically important to manage the aggregate supply and demand to ensure stability in the economy. 🗸🗸 [Accept any relevant higher order conclusion] [Max 2]

INTRODUCTION Accurate prediction is not possible in Economics. The best the economists can do is to try and forecast what might happen. There are a number of techniques available to help economists to forecast business cycles, e.g. economic indicators 🗸🗸 OR Successive periods of contraction and expansion of economic activities 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant introduction] [Max 2]

BODY: MAIN PART Business cycle indicators Leading economic indicators 🗸

• These are indicators that change before the economy changes / coincide with the reference turning point 🗸🗸
• They give consumers, business leaders and policy makers a glimpse (advance warnings) of where the economy might be heading. 🗸🗸
• Peak before a peak in aggregate economic activity is reached.
• Most important type of indicator in helping economists to predict what the economy will be like in the future 🗸🗸
• When these indicators rise, the level of economic activities will also rise in a few months' time/an upswing 🗸🗸
• E.g. job advertising space/inventory/sales ratio🗸

Coincident economic indicators🗸

• They move at the same time as the economy / if the turning point of a specific time series variable coincides with the reference turning point🗸🗸
• It indicates the actual state of the economy🗸🗸
• E.g. value of retail sales. 🗸
• If the business cycle reaches a peak and then begins to decline, the value of retail sales will reach a peak and then begin to decline at same time🗸🗸

Lagging economic indicators🗸

•  They do not change direction until after the business cycle has changed its direction🗸🗸
• They serve to confirm the behaviour of co-incident indicators🗸🗸
• E.g. the value of wholesalers' sales of machinery🗸
• If the business cycle reaches a peak and begins to decline, we are able to predict the value of new machinery sold🗸🗸

Composite indicator🗸

• It is a summary of the various indicators of the same type into a single value🗸🗸
• Their values are consolidated into a single value , if this is done we find a value of a composite leading , coincident and lagging indicator🗸🗸 Accept ONE example from the table below:
• This is the time that it takes for a business cycle to move through one complete cycle (measured from peak to peak) 🗸🗸
• It is useful to know the length because the length tends to remain relatively constant over time.🗸🗸
• If a business cycle has the length of 10 years it can be predicted that 10 years will pass between successive peaks or troughs in the economy. 🗸🗸
• Longer cycles show strength. 🗸🗸
• Cycles can overshoot. 🗸🗸

Ways to measure lengths:

• Crisis to crisis 🗸🗸
• Historical records 🗸🗸
• Consensus on businesses experience 🗸🗸

Amplitude 🗸

• It is the difference between the total output between a peak and a trough. 🗸🗸
• It measures the distance of the oscillation of a variable from the trend line / It is the intensity (height) of the upswing and downswing (contraction and expansion) in economic activity 🗸🗸
• A large amplitude during an upswing indicates strong underlying forces – which result in longer cycles 🗸🗸
•  The larger the amplitude the more extreme the changes that may occur / extent of change 🗸🗸
• E.g. During the upswing inflation may increase from 5% to 10%. (100% increase) 🗸🗸
•  A trend is the movement of the economy in a general direction. 🗸🗸
• It usually has a positive slope because the production capacity of the economy increases over time 🗸🗸
• Also known as the long term growth potential of the economy. 🗸🗸
• The diagram above illustrates an economy which is growing – thus an upward trend (positive slope) 🗸🗸
• Trends are useful because they indicate the general direction in which the economy is moving – it indicates the rate of increase or decrease in the level of output🗸🗸

Extrapolation 🗸

• Forecasters use past data e.g. trends and by assuming that this trend will continue, they make predictions about the future🗸🗸
• Means to estimate something unknown from facts or information that are known 🗸🗸
• if it becomes clear that the business cycle has passed through a trough and has entered a boom phase, forecasters might predict that the economy will grow in the months that follow 🗸🗸
• It is also used to make economic predictions in other settings e.g. prediction of future share prices🗸🗸

Moving average 🗸

• It is a statistical analytical tool that is used to analyse the changes that occur in a series of data over a certain period of time / repeatedly calculating a series of different average values along a time series to produce a smooth curve 🗸🗸
• The moving average could be calculated for the past three months in order to smooth out any minor fluctuations 🗸🗸
• It is calculated to iron out (minimize) small fluctuations and reveal long-term trends in the business cycle🗸🗸 Answers must be in full sentences and well described with examples to be able to obtain 2 marks per fact. Learners should be awarded 1 mark per 8 headings and examples. [8 x 1=8] [Max 26]

BODY: ADDITIONAL PART

• An expansionary monetary policy is implemented when the economy is in recession in order to stimulate economic activities. 🗸🗸
• Interest rates can be reduced to encourage spending. 🗸🗸
• Households and firms can borrow more and spend more. 🗸🗸
•  The increased spending increases the level of economic activity. 🗸🗸
• Investment will increase and more factors of production will be employed. 🗸🗸
• Higher levels of production, income and expenditure will be achieved. 🗸🗸
• If the supply of goods and services does not increase in line with an increase in demand, inflation will increase. 🗸🗸
• Inflation can be curbed by reducing money supply and availability of credit. 🗸🗸
• To dampen demand at the peak the government will be able to reduce the money supply by increasing interest rates. 🗸🗸
• Selling government bonds and securities (open market transactions) and reduce the supply of money in circulation. 🗸🗸
• Increase the cash reserve requirements to manipulate money creation activities of banks. 🗸🗸
• Persuade banks to decrease lending (moral suasion) 🗸🗸
• To devaluate the exchange rate (exchange rate policy) 🗸🗸 [Max 10]

CONCLUSION It remain clear that business cycles must be clearly monitored through the indicators available, policy makers must act quickly by using monetary and fiscal instruments in order to prevent instability in the economy. 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant conclusion] [Max 2]

INTRODUCTION: The government provides goods and services that are under supplied by the market and therefore plays a major role in regulating economic activity and guiding and shaping the economy. 🗸🗸 [Max 2]

BODY: MAIN PART Objectives:

Economic growth 🗸

• Refer to an increase in the production of goods and services 🗸🗸
• Measured in terms of Real GDP 🗸🗸
• For economic growth to occur, the economic growth rate must be higher than Population growth 🗸🗸
• Growth and development in a country benefit its citizens because it often leads to a higher standard of living 🗸🗸

Full employment 🗸

• It is when all the people who want to work, who are looking for a job must be able to get a job 🗸🗸
• High levels of employment is the most important economic objective of the government 🗸🗸
• The unemployment rate increased over the past few years 🗸🗸
• Informal sector activities must be promoted because it is an area where employment increase 🗸🗸

Exchange rate stability 🗸

• The economy must be manage effectively and effective Fiscal and monetary policy must be used to keep the exchange rate relatively stable 🗸🗸
• Depreciation and Appreciation of the currency create uncertainties for producers and traders and should be limited. These uncertainties must be limited 🗸🗸
• The SARB changed the Exchange rate from a Managed floating to a free floating exchange rate 🗸🗸

Price stability 🗸

• Stable price causes better results in terms of job creation and economic growth 🗸🗸
• The SARB inflation target is 3% - 6% and they are successful in keeping inflation within this target 🗸🗸
• Interest Rates, based on the Repo Rate are the main instruments used in the stabilisation policy 🗸🗸
• The stable budget deficit also has a stabilizing effect on the inflation rate 🗸🗸

Economic equity 🗸

• Redistribution of income and wealth is essential 🗸🗸
• South Africa uses a progressive income tax system – taxation on profits, taxation on wealth, capital gains tax and taxation on spending, are used to finance free services 🗸🗸
• Free social services are basic education; primary health and to finance basic economic services 🗸🗸
• E.g. Cash Grant to the poor, e.g. child grants and cash grants to vulnerable people, e.g. disability grants 🗸
• Progressive taxation means that the higher income earners pay higher/more taxation 🗸🗸 [Max 26]
• Learner responses can be positive or negative.
• Follow the argument and see if the learner can produce enough evidence to support his/her answer.

Economic Growth:

• SA targets 4–5% economic growth. Previously SA had a 5% growth rate 🗸🗸
• In recent years the growth rate decreased steadily (presently below 3%) 🗸🗸

Full Employment:

• Compared to foreign countries unemployment is very high. (Expanded – over 30%) 🗸🗸
• Efforts by SA government to reduce these figures includes the GEAR strategy, focus on small business enterprises, Public Works Programme 🗸🗸

Exchange rate stability:

• SA now operates on a free floating exchange rate system in line with international benchmarks 🗸🗸
• Unfortunately our currency has lost its value, with a general trend of depreciation over the last few years 🗸🗸

Price stability:

• For the past few years South Africa has managed to remain within the 3–6% target 🗸🗸
• The current increase in the repo rate has put constraints on the inflation rate 🗸🗸

Economic equity:

• Economic equity has improved (BEE, affirmative action, gender equity) and led to an improvement in economic equity 🗸🗸 [Any 5 x 2] [Max 10]

CONCLUSION: While some successes have been achieved by government, the fulfilling of some of the objectives are compromised by factors like lack of accountability, corruption, budgeting, nepotism and incompetence. 🗸🗸 [Any relevant conclusion] [Max 2]

INTRODUCTION The government responds to market failures by establishing and maintaining state owned enterprises to provide public goods and services 🗸🗸 [Any other relevant introduction] [Max 2]

BODY: MAIN PART

• It is required to give an explanation of one's decisions, actions and expenditures over a period of time 🗸🗸
• There are mechanisms for evaluating government's economic and financial performance 🗸🗸
• That the desired quantities and quality of goods and services for which taxes are raised are delivered 🗸🗸
• That monopolies, corruption, nepotism, incompetence and apathy does not occur 🗸🗸
• Two important elements of accountability is participation and transparency🗸🗸
• Ministerial responsibilities, i.e. the ministers of government departments are responsible for decisions and actions and expenditures 🗸🗸
• Parliamentary questioning arises and members of the government departments have to respond 🗸🗸
• The national treasury is responsible for treasury control 🗸🗸
• The auditor-general reports annually in writing on each government department🗸🗸
• Public goods are efficiently provided if Pareto efficiency is achieved 🗸🗸
• That is if resources are allocated in such a way that no one can be made better off without making someone else worse off 🗸🗸
• Bureaucracy the official rules and procedures. 🗸🗸/insensitivity to the needs of their clients 🗸🗸
• Incompetence- the lack of skill or ability to do a task successfully🗸🗸/May have improper qualifications/or an attitude of apathy 🗸🗸
• Corruption- the exploitation of a person's position for private gain /taking bribes, committing fraud, nepotism 🗸🗸
• State-owned enterprises do not operate according to the forces of supply and demand 🗸🗸
• It becomes thus very difficult for state-owned enterprises to assess needs and they are thus prone to under- or over-supplying public goods and services 🗸🗸
• The census and other household surveys as well as local government structures provide this type of information 🗸🗸
• Since resources are scarce, government must then decide which needs and whose needs are to be satisfied 🗸🗸
• In the private sector houses are built according to the price that people are able and willing to pay 🗸🗸
• In the public sector housing is regarded as a social responsibility and authorities supply them according to the needs of people 🗸🗸
• In a market economy prices are determined by supply and demand 🗸🗸
• The objectives of firms are to maximise their profits and they usually set prices to achieve this objective 🗸🗸
• Government does not pursue the profit maximisation objective 🗸🗸
• Government takes into account certain social, economic, political and environmental conditions as well as public opinion 🗸🗸
• Free-of-charge services- this is met from taxes 🗸🗸 and applies to most community goods and collective goods 🗸🗸 (e.g.) defence, police whereby charges and toll fees are levied 🗸
• User-charges 🗸 option to charge depends on technical reasons 🗸🗸 (e.g.) cost of providing a double lane road could be recovered by toll charges 🗸 Economic reasons 🗸 such as services like water and electricity 🗸 that have a zero price 🗸 political reasons 🗸 where income distribution is significantly unequal, administrative rationing according to need takes place 🗸🗸 (e.g.) public health and education 🗸
• Direct and indirect subsidies direct subsidies are used to cover part of the costs 🗸🗸 (e.g.) urban bus service 🗸 and an indirect subsidy is used to write off accumulated losses or deficits 🗸🗸
• Standing charges -called availability charges 🗸🗸 (e.g.) water and electricity 🗸 standing charges goes to meet fixed costs and the price per unit consumed covers variable costs 🗸🗸
• Price discrimination - different users have different elastic ties of demand for a good 🗸🗸 (e.g.) commercial and manufacturing businesses pay higher rates than households and they pay on a sliding scale🗸🗸
• State-owned enterprises that either render a service or when an existing enterprise is nationalised 🗸🗸
• They focus on making a profit and maximizing cost at the expense of the needs of some groups 🗸🗸 (e.g.) Iscor 🗸 SABC, 🗸SAA, Spoornet 🗸
• refers to the process whereby state-owned enterprises and state-owned assets are handed over or sold to private individuals 🗸🗸
• cost of maintaining and managing state-owned enterprises are high which can lead to higher taxes and larger public debt 🗸🗸
• State-owned enterprises are not run as efficiently as private enterprises 🗸🗸
• Nationalisation is the process whereby the state takes control and ownership of privately owned assets and private enterprises 🗸🗸
• It includes contracting of services, public-private partnerships, increasing competitiveness🗸🗸 [Max 26]

ADDITIONAL PART Possible problems in your community or elsewhere

• Lack of drinking water due to burst pipes 🗸🗸
• Lack of electricity due to lack of infrastructure (load shedding) 🗸🗸
• Lack of schooling – no buildings available – lack of maintenance 🗸🗸
• Lack of health services due to lack of staff, infrastructure, strikes 🗸🗸
• Lack of adequate housing (RDP) 🗸🗸 [Max 10 marks - List of examples max 5 marks] [Accept any other relevant answer] 

CONCLUSION If the above problems are not dealt with timeously by government, government will continue to fail its people in terms of service delivery, seeing many protests occurring regularly 🗸🗸 [Any other relevant higher order conclusion] [Max 2]

INTRODUCTION International trade can be defined as the exchange of goods and services between countries globally. 🗸🗸 These trade agreements are negotiated by protocols and agreement due to the uneven distribution of natural resources globally. 🗸🗸

BODY-MAIN PART The main reasons for international trade.

Demand reasons The size of the population impacts demand.

• If there is an increase in population growth, it causes an increase in demand, as more people’s needs must be satisfied. 🗸🗸
• Local suppliers may not be able to satisfy this demand. 🗸🗸

The population’s income levels effect demand.

• Changes in income cause a change in the demand for goods and services. 🗸🗸 • An increase in the per capita income of people in more disposable income that can be spent on local goods and services, some of which may then have to be imported. 🗸🗸

An increase in the wealth of the population leads to greater demand for goods.

• People have access to loans and can spend more on luxury goods, many of which are produced in other countries. 🗸🗸

Preferences and tastes can play a part in the determining of prices,

•  E.g. customers in Australia have a preference for a specific product which they do not produce and need to import and it will have a higher value than in other countries. 🗸🗸

The difference in consumption patterns is determined

• By the level of economic development in the country, e.g. a poorly developed country will have a high demand for basic goods and services but a lower demand for luxury goods. 🗸🗸

Supply reasons Natural resources are not evenly distributed

• Across all countries of the world. 🗸🗸
• They vary from country to country and can only be exploited in places where these resources exist. 🗸🗸

Climatic conditions

• Make it possible for some countries to produce certain goods at a lower price than other countries, e.g. Brazil is the biggest producer of coffee. 🗸🗸

Labour resources

• Differ in quantity, quality and cost between countries. 🗸🗸
• Some countries have highly skilled, well-paid workers with high productivity levels, e.g. Switzerland. 🗸🗸

Technological resources

•  Are available in some countries that enable them to produce certain goods and services at a low unit cost, e.g. Japan. 🗸🗸

Specialisation in the production

• Certain goods and services allows some countries to produce them at a lower cost than others, e.g. Japan produces electronic goods and sells these at a lower price. 🗸🗸

Capital allows developed countries

• Enjoy an advantage over underdeveloped countries. 🗸🗸
• Due to a lack of capital, some countries cannot produce all the goods they require themselves. 🗸🗸

ADDITIONAL PART

• Buying and selling goods and services from other countries: 🗸🗸
• The purchase of goods and services from abroad that leads to an outflow of currency from SA- Imports (M). 🗸🗸
• The of goods and services to buyers from other countries leading to an inflow of currency to SA – Exports (X) 🗸🗸
• Different factor endowments mean some countries can produce goods and services more efficiently than others- specialisation is therefore possible: 🗸🗸

Absolute Advantage:

• Where one country can produce goods with fewer resources than other. 🗸🗸

Comparative Advantage:

• Where one country can produce goods at a lower opportunity cost it sacrifices less resources in production. 🗸🗸

CONCLUSION International trade is important of countries to survive economically, as barriers to trade would disadvantage all countries, due to their interdependency globally. 🗸🗸 [Any other relevant higher order conclusion] [Max 2]

ECONOMIC PURSUITS-PAPER 1

Discuss in detail export promotion (Protectionism and Free Trade)

INTRODUCTION Export promotion refers to measures taken by governments increase production of goods and services that can be exported. The government provides incentives to encourage production 🗸🗸 [Max 2]

BODY: MAIN PART REASONS:

• Export promotion measures lower cost of production which makes it easier to compete on the international market 🗸🗸
• Achieve significant export-led economic growth🗸🗸
• Export enlarges production capacity of country because more and larger manufacturing industries are established. 🗸🗸
• The first step to export-led economic growth is to implement policies that encourage the establishment of industries to produce goods and services for export markets🗸🗸

METHODS: Exports are promoted through: Incentives🗸

• Export incentives include information on export markets, research with regard to new markets, concessions on transport charges, export credit and export credit guarantees and publicity commending successful exporters🗸🗸
• This will encourage manufacturers to export an increased volume of their production🗸🗸
• Trade missions help to market SA products abroad🗸🗸and supply SA companies with information about potential markets 🗸🗸

Direct Subsidies🗸

• Described as direct because it involves government expenditure. 🗸🗸
• Include cash payments to exporters, refunds on import tariffs and employment subsidies.
• The aim is to increase the competitiveness of exporting company🗸🗸 reduce cost of production🗸🗸and explore and establish overseas markets🗸🗸

Indirect subsidies

• Regarded as indirect because it results in the government receiving less revenue🗸🗸 e.g. general tax rebates,
• Tax concessions on profits earned from exports or on capital invested to produce export goods, refunding
•  Of certain taxes e.g. custom duties on imported goods used in the manufacturing process🗸🗸
• Allows companies to lower their prices and enables them to compete in international markets🗸🗸
• Challenge for governments to design incentives and subsidies in such a way that prices of export goods can't be viewed as dumping prices🗸🗸

Trade neutrality 🗸

• Can be achieved if incentives in favour of export production are introduced
• Up to point that neutralises the impact of protectionist measures in place🗸🗸
• E.g. subsidies equal to magnitude of import duties can be paid🗸

Export processing zones (EPZs) 🗸

• Is free-trade enclave within a protected area –
• Is fenced and controlled industrial park that falls outside
• Domestic customs area, and usually located near harbour or airport 🗸🗸 NOTE : For the response with regard to the effectiveness of export promotion methods, a maximum of 5 marks can be allocated.
• No limitations on size and scale since world market is very large🗸🗸
• Cost and efficiency of production based on this and organised along lines of comparative advantage🗸🗸
• Increased domestic production will expand exports to permit more imports and may result in backward linkage effects that stimulate domestic production in related industries🗸🗸
• Exchange rates are realistic and there is no need for exchange control and quantitative restrictions🗸🗸
• Value can be added to natural resources of the country 🗸🗸
• Creates employment opportunities 🗸🗸
• Increase in exports has positive effect on balance of payments 🗸🗸
• Increase in production leads to lower domestic prices, which benefit local consumers🗸🗸

DISADVANTAGES

• Real cost of production 🗸 subsidies and incentives reduce total cost of production which must be met from sales🗸🗸 real cost is thus concealed by subsidies🗸🗸products cannot compete in open market 🗸🗸
• Lack of competition 🗸 businesses charge prices that are so low that they force competitors out of the market 🗸🗸
• Increased tariffs and quotas 🗸can be against spirit of provisions of WTO🗸🗸overseas competitors retaliate with tariffs and quotas🗸🗸 goods are sold domestically below their real cost of production (export subsidies and dumping) 🗸🗸
• Protection of labour-intensive industries 🗸 developed countries maintain high levels of effective protection for their industries that produce labour-intensive goods in which developing countries already have or can achieve comparative advantage 🗸🗸
• Withdrawal of incentives often leads to closure of effected companies. 🗸🗸
• Incentives often lead to inefficiencies in the production process, since companies don't have to do their best to compete🗸🗸
• Can be seen as dumping 🗸🗸 [Max 26]

BODY: ADDITIONAL PART How successful is South Africa in protecting the local textile industry against foreign competition?

• Not successful: 🗸 Many domestic textile manufacturers closed down due to unfair international competition 🗸🗸 Many wholesalers make use of suppliers from abroad 🗸🗸 e.g. Woolworths/Walmart🗸
• Dumping still occurs – European manufacturers still dump clothing in Africa out of season at prices below cost 🗸🗸 Job losses due to a lack of protection in this industry 🗸🗸 [Accept any motivation relating to success indicators] [Max 10]

CONCLUSION South Africa's international trade policy facilitates globalisation thereby impacting positively on the balance of payment. 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant conclusion] [Max 2]

INTRODUCTION Protectionism refers to a deliberate policy on the part of the government to erect trade barriers, such as tariffs and quotas, in order to protect domestic industries against international competition. 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant definition] [Max 2]

BODY-MAIN PART Raising revenue for the government

• Import tariffs raise revenue for the government. 🗸🗸
• In smaller countries the tax base is often small due to low incomes of individuals and businesses. 🗸🗸
• Low incomes do not provide much in the form of income taxes and therefore custom duties on imports is a significant source of income or revenue. 🗸🗸

Protecting the whole industrial base

• Maintaining domestic employment. 🗸🗸
• Countries with high unemployment are continuously pressured to stimulate employment creation and therefore resort to protectionism in order to stimulate industrialisation. 🗸🗸
• It is thought that using protectionism the country’s citizens would purchase more domestic products and raise domestic employment. 🗸🗸
• These measures on domestic employment creation at the expense of other countries, led to such measures as “beggar-my-neighbour” policies. 🗸🗸
• Applying import policies is likely to reduce other countries ability to buy country’s exports and may provoke retaliation. 🗸🗸

Protecting workers

• It is argued that imports from other countries with relatively low wages represent unfair competition and threaten the standard of living of the more highly paid workers of the local industries. 🗸🗸
• Local industries would therefore be unable to compete because of higher wages pushing up the price levels of goods. 🗸🗸
• Protection is thus necessary to prevent local wage levels from falling or even to prevent local businesses from closing down due to becoming unprofitable. 🗸🗸
• Competition from low-wage countries may also reflect the fact that those countries have a comparative advantage in low-skilled labour-intensive industries. 🗸🗸

Diversifying the industrial base

• Overtime countries need to develop diversified industries to prevent overspecialisation. 🗸🗸
• A country relying too heavily on the export of one or a few products is very vulnerable. 🗸🗸
• If a developing country’s employment and income is dependent on only one or two industries, there is the risk that world fluctuations in prices and demand and supply-side problems could results in significant fluctuations in domestic economic activity. 🗸🗸
• Import restrictions may be imposed on a range of products in order to ensure that a number of domestic industries develop. 🗸🗸

Develop strategic industries

• Some industries such as the iron-ore and steel, agriculture, (basic foodstuffs, such as maize), energy (fuels) and electronics (communication) among others, are regarded as strategic industries. 🗸🗸
• Developing countries may feel that they need to develop these industries in order to become self-sufficient . 🗸🗸

Protecting specific industries Dumping

• Foreign industries may engage in dumping because government subsidies permit them to sell at very low prices or because they are seeking to raise profits through price discrimination. 🗸🗸
• The reason for selling products at lower prices may be to dispose of accumulate stocks Of the goods and as a result consumers in the importing country stand to benefit however,
• Their long term objective may be to drive out domestic producers and gain control of the market and consumers
• Are likely to lose out in the reduction in choice and higher prices that the exporters will be able to charge. 🗸🗸

Infant industries

• Usually newly established and find it difficult to survive due to their average costs being higher than that of their well-established foreign competitors. 🗸🗸
• However, if they are given protection in their early years they may be able to grow and Thereby take advantage lower their average costs and become competitive and at this point protection can be removed. 🗸🗸

Declining industries/sunset industries

• Structural changes in the demand and supply of a good may severely hit an industry such industries should be permitted to go out of business gradually declining industries
• Are likely to be industries that no longer have a comparative advantage and however, if they go out of business quickly there may be a sudden and large increase in unemployment. 🗸🗸
• Protection may enable an industry to decline gradually thereby allowing time for resources including labour to move to other industries. 🗸🗸
• Protecting domestic standards domestic regulations of food safety human rights and environmental standards have been increasingly acting as trade restrictions. 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant fact] [Max 26]

ADDITIONAL PART South Africa promotes exports through subsidies

Direct Subsidies

• Strict screening measures should be put in place when companies apply for financial assistance. Government expenditure can provide direct financial support to domestic producers for their exports e.g. 🗸🗸
• Cash grants offered to South African exhibitors to exhibit their products at exhibitions overseas. To explore new markets. 🗸🗸
• Foreign trade missions to explore new markets imposition of tariffs on imports. 🗸🗸
• Funds for the formation of formal export councils. 🗸🗸
• Subsidies for training or employing personnel. 🗸🗸
• Funds for the export market research. 🗸🗸
• Product registration and foreign patent registrations. 🗸🗸
• Government can refund companies certain taxes to promote exports.
• These types of indirect subsidies are:
• General tax rebates (Part of the cost of production can be subtracted from the tax that has been paid) 🗸🗸
• Tax concessions on profits earned from exports or on capital invested to produce export goods. 🗸🗸
• Refunds on import tariffs in the manufacturing process of exported goods companies often use custom duties are paid on these goods and the government refunds them. 🗸🗸 [Max 10]

CONCLUSION Most countries agree that protectionism is harmful to the economy if not well managed. Protectionism is needed especially where industries are young and need expansion or development. 🗸🗸 [Any other relevant higher order conclusion] [Max 2]

INTRODUCTION Economic growth is responsible for the overall growth of the economy, in order to enhance the well being of the economy as a whole. Whereas economic development would focus on the individual well being of the citizens of a country. [Any other relevant higher order conclusion] [Max 2]

BODY-MAIN PART Growth and Development A demand-side approach includes discretionary changes in monetary and fiscal policies with the aim of changing the level of aggregate demand. 🗸🗸

Monetary policy

• Is driven by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). 🗸🗸
• It aims to stabilise prices by managing inflation. 🗸🗸

Fiscal policy

• Is driven by the Department of Finance. 🗸🗸
• It aims to facilitate government, political and economic objectives. 🗸🗸
• A demand-side approach to economic growth and development does not only depend on fiscal and monetary policy. 🗸🗸
• It is dependent on all components of aggregate demand, that is, C, I, X and G. 🗸🗸

South African approach

• The South African approach uses both monetary and fiscal measures to influence aggregate demand in the economy. 🗸🗸
• The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) as the central bank in South Africa formulates the monetary policy. 🗸🗸
• They use the following instruments:

Interest rate changes

• It is used to influence credit creation by making credit more expensive or cheaper. 🗸🗸
• The exchange rate is stabilised by encouraging inflow or outflows. 🗸🗸

Open market transactions

• To restrict credit the SARB sells securities. When banks buy these securities money flows from banks to the SARB. 🗸🗸
• The banks have less money to lend and cannot extend as much credit as before. 🗸🗸
• To encourage credit creation the SARB buys securities. Money flows into the banking system.🗸🗸

Moral suasion

• The SARB consults with banks to act in a responsible manner based on the prevailing economic conditions. 🗸🗸

Cash Reserve Requirements

• Banks are required to hold a certain minimum cash reserve in the central bank. 🗸🗸
• Banks have a limited amount to give out as credit. 🗸🗸
• South Africa’s fiscal policy is put into practice through the budgetary process. 🗸🗸
• The main purpose of fiscal policy is to stimulate macroeconomic growth and employment, and ensure redistribution of wealth. 🗸🗸
• The following instruments are used:

Progressive personal income tax

• Higher income earners are taxed at higher tax rates. 🗸🗸
• These taxes are used to finance social development. 🗸🗸
• The poor benefit more than those with higher incomes. 🗸🗸

Wealth taxes

• Properties are levied (taxed) according to their market values. 🗸🗸
• Transfer duties are paid when properties are bought. 🗸🗸
• Securities (shares and bonds) are taxed when traded. 🗸🗸
• Capital gains tax is levied on gains on the sale of capital goods (e.g. properties, shares). 🗸🗸
• Estate duties are paid on the estates of the deceased. 🗸🗸
• These taxes are used to finance development expenditures which benefit the poor more  often. 🗸🗸

Cash benefits

• Old age pensions, disability grants, child support and unemployment insurance are cash grants. These are also known as social security payments. 🗸🗸
• Benefits in kind (natura benefits) 🗸🗸
• These include the provision of healthcare, education, school meals, protection etc. 🗸🗸
• When user fees are charged, poor or low income earners pay less or nothing. 🗸🗸
• Limited quantities of free electricity and water are provided. 🗸🗸

Other redistribution

• Public works programmes, e.g. the Strategic Integrated Projects (SIP) provides employment subsidies and other cash and financial benefits such as training, financing and export incentives.🗸🗸

Land restitution and land redistribution

• Land restitution is the return of land to those that have lost it due to discriminatory laws in the  past. 🗸🗸
• Land redistribution focuses on land for residential (town) and production (farm) for previously disadvantaged groups. 🗸🗸
• The money for these programmes is provided in the main budget. 🗸🗸

Subsidies on properties

• It helps people to acquire ownership of fixed residential properties. 🗸🗸
• E.g. government’s housing subsidy scheme provides funding to all people earning less than  R3 500 per month🗸🗸

CONCLUSION The demand-side approach focuses on the expansion of the demand for goods and services produced in the economy. 🗸🗸 OR To ensure economic growth, there should be an adequate and growing demand for goods and services produced in the economy. 🗸🗸

[Any other relevant higher order conclusion] [Max 2]

INTRODUCTION Different growth and development strategies have been implemented in South Africa since 1994, each aimed at addressing particular needs at the time of introduction. 🗸🗸 [Any other relevant introduction] [Max 2]

BODY-MAIN PART The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP)

• The RDP was an integrated, coherent socio-economic policy framework that was implemented directly after our first democratic elections in 1994. 🗸🗸
• It seeked to mobilise all our people and our country’s resources toward the final eradication of apartheid and the building of a democratic, non-racial and non-sexist future. 🗸🗸

The RDP was based on six principles.

• an integrated and sustainable programme. 🗸🗸
• a people-driven process focusing on the needs of the population. 🗸🗸
• peace and security for all, aimed at a non-violent society that respects all human rights. 🗸🗸
• nation-building, focusing on the needs of all members of society. 🗸🗸
• linking reconstruction and development. 🗸🗸
• The RDP consisted of many proposals, strategies and policy programmes.
• All of these could, however be grouped into five major policy programmes that were linked to each other.

The five key programmes were:

• meeting basic needs. 🗸🗸
• developing our human resources. 🗸🗸
• building the economy. 🗸🗸
• democratising the state and society. 🗸🗸
• implementing the RDP. 🗸🗸

The Growth, Employment and Redistribution Programme (GEAR)

• The GEAR built upon the strategic vision set out in the RDP, i.e. 🗸🗸
• The importance of all the objectives of the RDP was reaffirmed but it recognized the implementation and macroeconomic problems that the government had been experiencing in implementing the RDP. 🗸🗸
• The RDP placed much more emphasis on disciplined economic policy. 🗸🗸
• While still recognizing that there were very serious needs that had to be addressed. 🗸🗸

The Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa Programme (AsgiSA).

• AsgiSA resulted from government’s commitment to halve unemployment and poverty by 2014. 🗸🗸
• The Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa) was established to address the scarce and critical skills needed to meet AsgiSA’s objectives. 🗸🗸

AsgiSA identified six important factors that prevented growth:

• the relative volatility of the currency. 🗸🗸
• the cost, efficiency and capacity of the national logistics system. 🗸🗸
• shortages of suitably skilled labour, and the spatial distortions of apartheid affecting low-skilled labour costs. 🗸🗸
• barriers to entry, limits to competition and limited new investment opportunities. 🗸🗸
• the regulatory environment and the burden on small and medium enterprises (SME’s). 🗸🗸
• AsgiSA was not intended to be a government programme. 🗸🗸
• But rather a national initiative supported by all the key groups in the economy. 🗸🗸
• Namely business, labour, entrepreneurs and government and semi-government departments and institutions. 🗸🗸

Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisitions (JIPSA)

• It is the skills development arm of ASGISA. Focus is on skills development, especially through the SETAS. 🗸🗸

Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP)

• It is a nationwide government intervention to create employment using labour-intensive methods, and to give people skills they can use to find jobs when their work in the EPWP is done. 🗸🗸

The New Growth Path (NGP)

• The New Growth Path (NGP) was released in November 2011. 🗸🗸
• This plan is designed to serve as a framework for economic policy, and to be the driver of the country’s job strategy. 🗸🗸

The New Growth Path therefore proposes certain strategies to ensure adequate demand:

• Deepening the domestic and regional market by growing employment. 🗸🗸
• Increasing incomes and undertaking other measures to equity and income distribution. 🗸🗸
• Widening the market for South African goods and services through a stronger focus on exports to the region and other rapidly growing economies. 🗸🗸
• On a macroeconomic level the NGP entails accommodating or looser monetary policy combined with stricter fiscal policy to limit inflationary pressures and enhance competitiveness. 🗸🗸
• Government spending will be prioritised with the objective of long-term sustainable employment opportunities. 🗸🗸

The microeconomic measures to control inflationary pressures include the following:

• A competition policy to supervise monopoly pricing on products and services. 🗸🗸
• A review of administered prices to ensure that they do not increase above inflation without compelling reasons. 🗸🗸
• Interventions in the case of rapidly rising prices of essential products and services such as private🗸🗸
• Healthcare and basic food items. 🗸🗸
• Active industrial policy. 🗸🗸
• Rural development policy. 🗸🗸
• Competition policy. 🗸🗸
• Stepping up education and skills development. 🗸🗸
• Enterprise development: promoting small business and entrepreneurship; eliminating unnecessary red tape. 🗸🗸
• Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE). 🗸🗸
• Labour practices. 🗸🗸
• Technology policy. 🗸🗸
• Developmental trade policies. 🗸🗸
• Policies for African development. 🗸🗸 
• The different growth and development strategies that have been implemented in South Africa since 1994. 🗸🗸
• Have all contributed to making our country more prosperous and to address problems created by inequalities of the past. 🗸🗸
• However, problems such as a low level of education, unemployment and unequal distribution of income persist. 🗸🗸
• The current NGP is a comprehensive policy that is focused on addressing all of these problems. [Any other relevant higher order conclusion] [Max 2]

INTRODUCTION South Africa’s overall objective of Industrial Development Policy is to ensure international competitiveness in its nine provinces. OR Regional development is aimed at increasing the economic livelihood of specific areas or regions. OR Regional development attempts to limit the negative effects of economic activities in only a few areas. OR It attempts to promote the advantages of a more even regional development by using labour and other natural resources and infrastructure in neglected areas. [Accept any relevant introduction] [Max 2]

BODY-MAIN PART SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

• SDI Programme attracts infrastructure and business investments to underdeveloped areas to create employment. 🗸🗸
• Department of Trade and Industry is driving force behind industrial and spatial development. 🗸🗸
• DTI plans together with central, provincial and local government, IDC, parastatals and research institutions. 🗸🗸
• Industrial Development Policy Programme (Spatial Development) has 2 focus points spatial development initiative (SDI) and financial incentives. 🗸🗸
• SDI refers to government’s initiative and economic development potential of certain specific spatial locations in SA. 🗸🗸

Key Objectives:

• Stimulate economic activity in selected strategic locations. 🗸🗸
• Generate economic growth and foster sustainable industrial development. 🗸🗸
• Develop projects of infrastructure in certain areas and finance them through lending and private sector investment. 🗸🗸
• Establish private-public partnerships (PPP’s). 🗸🗸

In areas with high poverty and unemployment, SDI focuses on:

• High level support in areas where socio-economic conditions require concentrated government assistance. 🗸🗸
• Where inherent economic potential exists. 🗸🗸
• The approach is towards international competitiveness, regional cooperation and a more diversified ownership base. 🗸🗸

Some of the main focus points of the SDI Programme are:

• Lubombo Corridor (agro-tourism, education, craft, commercial and agricultural sectors); 🗸🗸
• KwaZulu-Natal (Ports of Durban and Richards Bay); 🗸🗸
• West Coast SDI (fishing and industrial ports); 🗸🗸
• Coast-2-Coast Corridor with agro-tourism. 🗸🗸
• It also makes it possible for private sector businesses to take advantage of the economic potential of underdeveloped areas in private-public partnerships (PPP’s) 🗸🗸
• In PPP a private business may provide the capital to build the factory and to buy raw materials and employ labour, while the government provides the capital for the infrastructure such as roads and water and electricity. 🗸🗸
• The business benefits from profits and the government benefits from taxes, levies and employment opportunities. 🗸🗸

There are TWO types of PPP’s which are compensated differently: Unitary payments:

• Private sector builds and runs a project (it performs the function on behalf of the public sector); the payment provides an acceptable return on the total investment (building cost, maintenance, operational expenses). 🗸🗸
• Private sector constructs the project and then is given the right to change a toll fee (e.g. public road); 🗸🗸
• The toll covers costs of construction, maintenance, operation. 🗸🗸
• The above options can be combined: E.g. hospital (cost of building is an annual payment and a user fee is also charged). 🗸🗸
• A track of land that forms a passageway allowing access from one area to another and particular advantages to mining, manufacturing and other businesses. 🗸🗸
• Domestic Corridor: e.g. Lubombo, West Coast, Fish River. 🗸🗸
• Corridors beyond the South African Borders (SADC) e.g. Maputo Development Corridor Mozambique. 🗸🗸
• Reasons in support of South Africa’s regional integration in Southern Africa: have political and stable neighbours have important export markets and a future source of water and energy supplies integration may be a precondition for support from foreign investors, donors and multilateral institutions. 🗸🗸
• A robust regional transport system and a solid infrastructure base hold the key to attracting investment into the SADC region – improving competitiveness and promoting trade. 🗸🗸

Advantages from Corridor development:

• Greater levels of economic efficiency and productivity compact urban form corridor urban form. 🗸🗸
• Corridor developments will often occur due to private investment. 🗸🗸
• Intergration of land use and transport planning will lead to generally efficient integration. 🗸🗸
• Efficient urbanisation leads to efficient use of land and promotion of an efficient transport system. 🗸🗸

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ZONES (IDZ’s)

• Geographically designed, purpose-built industrial sites providing services tailored for export- orientated industries. 🗸🗸
• Physically enclosed and linked to an international port or airport. 🗸🗸
• Specifically designed to attract new investment in export-driven industries. 🗸🗸
• Falls outside domestic customs zones and able to import items free of customs and trade restrictions, add value and then export their goods. 🗸🗸
• Development and management done by private sector. 🗸🗸
• Government IDZ policy designed to boost exports and jobs. 🗸🗸
• IDZ’s aim to encourage economic growth –attract foreign investment in industrial development – facilitate international competitiveness regarding manufacturing. 🗸🗸 [Max 26]

ADDITIONAL PART FINANCIAL INCENTIVES Small and Medium Enterprise Development Programme (SMEDP) • This incentive has provided a tax-free cash grant for investment in industries in

• South Africa. 🗸🗸
• E.g. manufacturing, agricultural, processing, aquaculture and tourism. 🗸🗸

Critical Infrastructure Fund Programme (CIF)

• A tax-free cash grant incentive for projects has improved critical infrastructure in  South Africa. 🗸🗸
• E.g. for installation, construction of infrastructure, payment of employees, materials directly consumed during installation. 🗸🗸

Duty Free Incentives (for businesses operating in the IDZ’s)

• This has encouraged export-orientated manufacturing to increase their competitiveness 🗸🗸
• And helped to promote foreign and local direct investment. 🗸🗸

Foreign Investment Grant (FIG)

• This has assisted foreign investors to invest in new manufacturing businesses in SA. 🗸🗸
• Benefited in terms of the cost of relocating new machinery and equipment from abroad. 🗸🗸

Strategic Investment Projects (SIP)

• This has attracted investment from local and foreign entrepreneurs in manufacturing, computer, research and engineering sectors. 🗸🗸

Skills Support Programme (SIP)

• This cash grant for skills development has encouraged greater investment 🗸🗸
• In training in general and stimulated the development of new advanced skills. 🗸🗸

Black Businesses Supplier Development Programme (BBSDP)

• This 80 % cash grant has provided black-owned enterprises with access to 🗸🗸
• Training which has improved management of their enterprises. 🗸🗸

Special Economic Zones (SEZ)

• It is an extention to the current financial incetives to further promoted regional development. 🗸🗸
• The major incentive is a tax reduction of 15 % for businesses settling in this area. 🗸🗸
• This does not mean that existing businesses in the IDZ can relocate to take advantage of this incentive. 🗸🗸
• If a current business in the IDZ wants to expand they are allowed. 🗸🗸 [Max 10]

CONCLUSION From the above discussion it is clear that different initiatives form part of South Africa’s Regional Industrial Development Programme. [Max 2]

INTRODUCTION Economic indicators are used to evaluate the economic performance of an economic unit. This unit can be a company, an industry, a country or a region. Macro-economic indicators, measures the economic performance of a country as a whole. 🗸🗸

BODY-MAIN PART Such indicators can provide an indication of:

• Changes taking place in a country. 🗸🗸
• How a country compares to other countries. 🗸🗸

Inflation Rate

• This is the general increase in the price level of goods and services in the economy over a certain period in time. E.g. one year. 🗸🗸
• This is therefore an indicator of the health of the economy and it is monitored in two ways that is at the production wholesale level producer price level (PPI) and at the retail or consumer level consumer price index (CPI) 🗸🗸

The Consumer Price Index (CPI)

• Shows the price increases of a representative (weighted) basket of goods and services that consumers buy. 🗸🗸
• It is abbreviated as CPI this cover all the urban areas. 🗸🗸
• It is an overall index and weights are obtained from expenditures of different income categories of households. 🗸🗸
• It is the most comprehensive indicator measuring consumer inflation in the country. 🗸🗸
• It shows changes in the general purchasing power of the rand and it is used for inflation targeting 🗸🗸
• Is compiled by Stats SA and measures the change in the price level of a basket of consumer goods and services. 🗸🗸
• The goods and services included in the basket are chosen to represent the goods and services purchased by an average household. 🗸🗸
• This basket is adjusted from time to time as consumption patterns change. 🗸🗸
• The inflation rate is the percentage change in the CPI from the previous year and can be calculated as follows:
• Change in CPI x 100 🗸🗸        CPI

The Production Price Index (PPI)

• Used to measure the price of goods that are produced domestically when they leave the factory year. 🗸🗸
• The goods that are imported when they enter the country (at a port) and both of these are before consumers become involved. 🗸🗸
• PPI consists of three baskets that are domestically manufactured outputs, e.g. changes in the PPI can be made monthly or quarterly or yearly. 🗸🗸
• While changes in the imported products and exported commodities are given separately in the same report. 🗸🗸
• PPI includes capital and intermediate goods but not services. 🗸🗸
• It is based on a completely different type of a basket of items in the CPI. 🗸🗸
• It measures the cost of production rather than the cost of living. 🗸🗸
• It is used to predict consumer goods inflation (CPI) 🗸🗸
• Which is also estimated and published on a monthly basis by Stats SA, is similar to the CPI, 🗸🗸
• Except that it also includes the prices of raw materials and intermediary goods 🗸🗸 (i.e. goods that will be finished in the production process), excludes VAT and excludes  services. 🗸🗸
• Manufactured goods included in the PPI are priced when they leave the factory, not when they are sold to consumers. 🗸🗸
• Unlike the CPI, the PPI therefore cannot be related directly to consumers’ living standards. 🗸🗸
• The PPI is nevertheless very useful in the analysis of inflation because it measures the cost of production. 🗸🗸
• A significant change in the rate of increase in the PPI is usually an indication that the rate of increase in the CPI will also change a few months later. 🗸🗸

The GDP Deflator Is a ratio that indicates the relationship of the GDP at nominal prices to the GDP at real prices. GDP deflator = Normal GDP x 100 🗸🗸                            Real GDP 

Nominal GDP

• Is the value of total gross domestic product measured at current prices. 🗸🗸
• While the real GDP is the value of total gross domestic product measured at constant prices.🗸🗸
• So, the GDP deflator includes changes in the prices of exports but not of imports. 🗸🗸
• In a small open economy, like that of South Africa where both, imports and exports are significant in relation to the total size of the economy. 🗸🗸
• The exclusion of import prices is an important shortcoming. 🗸🗸

Unemployment rate

• In terms of economic development, employment is a very important indicator. 🗸🗸
• Employment is, however, not very easy to measure as so many people are employed in the informal sector which is not recorded. 🗸🗸
• The concept of underemployment is also important. 🗸🗸
• This is when someone is employed in a position that requires less skill than their ability. 🗸🗸
• For example when a qualified accountant works as a delivery person because he or she cannot find employment as an accountant. 🗸🗸
• Someone may also be employed on a part-time basis but would prefer to work full time. 🗸🗸
• A labour force survey is published quarterly by Stats SA. 🗸🗸
• This publication contains information and statistics concerning a variety of issues related to the labour market, including the official unemployment rate. 🗸🗸
• It is a comprehensive survey and provides information on changes in employment in different provinces and industries. 🗸🗸
• Employment in the informal sector, and even reasons for changes in employment figures. 🗸🗸
• The unemployment rate is a percentage of the total labour force. 🗸🗸
• The total labour force includes all employed people and unemployed people who are looking for work. 🗸🗸
• The unemployment rate is a lagging indicator, which means that it will only change a few periods after the trend in the economy has changed. 🗸🗸
• For example if the economy starts growing at a faster pace. 🗸🗸
• The unemployment rate will only react to the growth after two or three quarters. 🗸🗸

Interest rates

• Interest rates are important indicators of future economic activity, as the interest rate level is usually an important determinant when economic decisions are being taken. 🗸🗸
• Both the general interest rate level and the structure of interest rates are important indicators.🗸🗸
• There are many interest rates in the economy. 🗸🗸
• Some are short term rates, such as the repo rate, which is the interest rates at which South Africa banks borrow from the Reserve Bank to finance their liquidity deficit. 🗸🗸
• The difference between the short term interest rates and long term interest rates: 🗸🗸
• Is called the interest rate spread and the term structure of interest rates provides an indication of the interest rates levels on loans or investments of different maturities. 🗸🗸
• Usually we can expect the interest rates level in a developing country to be higher than the interest rate in a developed economy. 🗸🗸
• This is due to the higher risk attached to the developing economy. 🗸🗸
• Factors such as political and economic uncertainty cause this higher risk. 🗸🗸
• Developing economies also need to attract foreign investment to their country  to finance growth. 🗸🗸
• Investors’ funds will move towards the highest yield and thereof. 🗸🗸
• Developing countries cannot allow interest rates in their countries to become too low. 🗸🗸

Money Supply

• The increase in the M3 money supply is an important economic indicator. 🗸🗸
• If M, the money supply increases, this means that either (P) prices or Y (output) has to respond to the increase in M. 🗸🗸
• Therefore, an increase in the money supply is an important indicator showing that output will increase. 🗸🗸
• Whether this will translate to an increase in real production or the price level will depend on factors like production within the economy. 🗸🗸
• In addition to economic growth the employment of people of working age (15 -64 years) is a majot economic objective. 🗸🗸
• We need to know more than this; we need to know who the people are that need to be employed. 🗸🗸
• The numbers are determined, not only by age, but also by people’s willingness to work. 🗸🗸

The Economically Active Population (EAP)

• The EAP is also known as the labour force. 🗸🗸
• It consists of people between the age of 15 and 64 who are willing to work for income in cash or in kind and includes: 🗸🗸
• Workers in the formal sector- workers in the informal sector. 🗸🗸
• Employers any one 🗸🗸
• Self employed persons. 🗸🗸

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• THE DYNAMICS OF IMPERFECT MARKETS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS GRADE 12

Unemployed Persons

• The 2021 estimate of the South African population was million people. 🗸🗸
• The EAP numbered million ( % of the population). 🗸🗸

The Employment Rate

• The number of employed persons expressed as a percentage of the EAP gives the employment rate. 🗸🗸
• The employment rate can also be converted into an index. 🗸🗸
• The SA employment rate was % in 2011. 🗸🗸
• This is low, compared to rates in developed and even some developing countries such as Argentina and Pakistan. 🗸🗸
•  In SA the growth in the economy is not accompanied by the similar growth in employment numbers. 🗸🗸

Employment indicators are used for:

• To calculate trends in employment in different sectors or industries. 🗸🗸
• This indicates structural changes in the economy. 🗸🗸
• To calculate productivity. 🗸🗸
• To show the success of the economy in utilizing its full potential. 🗸🗸

Unemployment Rate

• Statistics SA (SSA) obtains its labour data each year from Quarterly Labour Surveys  (QLFS). 🗸🗸
• It uses the standard definition of the International Labour Office (ILO) to calculate unemployment. 🗸🗸
• The strict definition of unemployment is used to calculate the unemployment rate. 🗸🗸
• Did not work during the seven days prior to the interview. 🗸🗸
• Want to work and are available to start work within a week of the week of the interview. 🗸🗸
• Have taken active steps to look for work or to start some form of self-employment in four week prior to the interview. 🗸🗸
• In SA the official unemployment rate was % in 2021. 🗸🗸
• In developed countries, change in the unemployment rate trigger responses. 🗸🗸
• From governments to fine-tune the economy. 🗸🗸
• Increases require more funds for unemployment insurance (UIF) drawings. 🗸🗸
• In developing countries, unemployment is the most important cause of poverty. 🗸🗸 [Accept current statistical data] [Max 16]
• To give a policy direction in the country. 🗸🗸
• To develop mechanism to caution the most affected sectors of the economy promptly
• e.g.during the 2019-2020 recession/pandemic some companies required a bail out from the government. 🗸🗸
• Develop some economic stabilisers to defuse the huge impact that may result from the unexpected economic downturn. 🗸🗸
• Open some other alternative markets for their goods and services. 🗸🗸
• To do research and advice the business community before the actual moment hits. 🗸🗸
• It can be used to stimulate thinking and growth in a number of sectors in the Economy. 🗸🗸 [Accept any relevant consideration] [Max 10]

CONCLUSION Countries cannot survive and grow their economies if they do not pay attention to economic indicators for their planning processes. [Accept any relevant consideration] [Max 2]

INTRODUCTION Social indicators also called human development indicators as they promote improvement in the standard of living. 🗸🗸 [Any other relevant definition] [Max 2]

BODY-MAIN PART Demographics

• This is the description of the physical population and its composition.
• To get this a census is done regularly to obtain this information. 🗸🗸

Human development Index (HDI)

•  This is a measure of people’s ability to live long and healthy lives, to communicate, 🗸🗸
•  To participate in the community and to have sufficient income to experience a decent lifestyle. 🗸🗸

Human poverty index (HPI)

•  It measures life expectancy is measured by the percentage of newborns not expected to survive to age 40. 🗸🗸
•  Lack of education is measured by the percentage of adults who are ill- educated. 🗸🗸

Health and nutrition

• Life expectancy birth. 🗸🗸
• Infant mortality rate. 🗸🗸

Nutrition indicators

• Daily calorie intake per person. 🗸🗸
• The number of children who go hungry. 🗸🗸
• These measures are important to government as they are supplying healthcare and sometime have to include legislation such as adding vitamin A to basic foodstuffs such as bread. 🗸🗸
• The standard of living of people is directly connected to their education. 🗸🗸
• Educated people are employable and can earn an income and provide for their own wants and needs. 🗸🗸

Two important measures are:

• Secondary enrolment percemtage-how many children that start Grade 1 get to Grade 8 and finish Grade 12. 🗸🗸
• Adult literacy- People over the age of 15 that can read and write. 🗸🗸
• A large percentage of the annual budget is allocated to education. 🗸🗸
• Because of our constitution certain basic services must be supplied by the government. 🗸🗸
• These services have a direct effect on people’s living standards. 🗸🗸
• Electricity 🗸🗸
• Refuse disposal🗸🗸
• Water supply🗸🗸
• Sanitation🗸🗸

Housing and urbanisation

• Urbanisation the process by which an increasing proportion of a country’s population is concentrated in its urban areas as a result of natural increase and migration from rural areas. 🗸🗸
• This measures is important as more people come to live in urban areas the greater the demand for housing, services, education, health care etc. 🗸🗸
• Housing the percentage of the population living in a permanent dwelling or house. 🗸🗸
• The government issue housing subsidies to help poor people to own a house South African citizens or permanent residents earning R3 500 or less a month could apply for this subsidy. 🗸🗸

International comparisons

• Figures collected by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and United Nations provide the best data for comparison purpose. 🗸🗸

Other measures used:

• Purchasing power parity (PPP) The number of units of one country’s currency that give the holder the same purchasing power as one unit of another country’s currency. 🗸🗸
• The Big Mac Index, The index is based on the price of the Big Mac around the world as compared to its price in the United States. 🗸🗸 [Max 40]

CONCLUSION From the above discussion it is clear that social indicators play a significant role in South Africa. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that we should study their uses in depth. [Max 2]

MICROECONOMICS-PAPER 2

INTRODUCTION A perfect market is a market structure which has a large number of buyers and sellers.  OR The market price is determined by the industry (demand and supply curves).  OR This means that individual businesses are price takers, i.e. they are not able to influence prices. OR Perfect competition is an imaginary situation, whereas monopolistic competition is a reality. 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant introduction] [Max 2] 

BODY-MAIN PART

• The indicating of the equilibrium positions on the perfect market structure is of utmost importance because from this point where MC = MR
• The dotted lines will be drawn to show economic profit or economics loss. 
• Where the dotted lines intersect the AC and AR curves either normal profit or economic profit or economic loss will be indicated and shadowed.

Mark allocation for graph:

• Position / shape of MC curve = 1 mark
• MR curve = 1 mark
• Position / shape of AC curve = 2 marks
• Equilibrium point = 1 mark
• Indication of price / quantity = 1 mark
• Shading of economic loss = 2 marks MAX MARKS = (8)

Allocate marks on the graph according to the rubric provided and if facts are duplicated again in writing, do not allocate marks. Max of 8 marks.

• Equilibrium is at E 1 i.e. where MC = MR 
• At this point Q 1 goods are produced at a price of P 1  
• The averages cost for Q 1 units is point R on the AC curve 
• Price / AR is greater than AC ( TR > TC)
• Therefore economic profit is represented by the area P 1 SRE 1  
• Equilibrium is at E 1 i.e. where MC = MR
• At equilibrium (point E 1 ) average cost is equal to price 
• The AC curve is tangent to the demand curve which means that P/AR = AC (TR = TC) 
• The business makes normal profit which is the minimum earnings required to prevent the entrepreneur from leaving the industry. 
• Equilibrium is at E1, i.e. where MC = MR 
• At this point Q1 goods are produced at a price of P1 
• At equilibrium (point E1) price/AR is less than average cost/the AC curve is lies above the demand curve which means that P/AR < AC (TR < TC) 
• The business makes an economic loss A maximum of 24 marks will be allocated for graph illustration and analysis: 8 marks max per graph illustration - (Max 26 marks)

ADDITIONAL PART CONDITIONS For a market to successfully operate under perfect competition, the following conditions should prevail at the same time:

• No firm can influence the market price (price takers) due to a large number of buyers and sellers 
• Products are identical (homogeneous) 
• There are no barriers of entry, meaning that there is freedom of entry and exit 
• Buyers and sellers act independently - no collusion between sellers 
• No government interference to influence the market – the market is unregulated 
• Free movement between markets - all factors of production are completely mobile 
• Both buyers and sellers have full knowledge of all the prevailing market conditions (perfect information) 
• If any of the above conditions are not met, the market is regarded as an imperfect market Any 5 x 2 = [Max 10 marks]

CONCLUSION Freedom of entry and exit into the perfect market alter the supply of goods on the market. This will result in changes in price which influences the profit or loss of a business.  If price falls to a level where it is equal to the AVC then the firm will shut-down.  [Max 2] Discuss the monopoly in detail (with/without the aid of graphs) (Imperfect Market)

INTRODUCTION A firm is regarded as a monopolist when it owns or controls the total supply of a scarce factor of production. Monopoly is a market structure where only one seller operates. 🗸🗸

BODY: MAIN PART The characteristics of a monopoly

Number of firms

• The monopoly consists out of one single firm. 🗸🗸
• The monopoly is also the industry. 🗸🗸
• Example: Eskom or De Beers – diamond-selling 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant example]

Nature of product

• The product is unique with no close substitute. 🗸🗸
• Example: Diamonds are unique. 🗸🗸

Market entry

• Refers to how easy or difficult it is for businesses to enter or to leave the market 🗸🗸
• Is entirely/completely blocked. 🗸🗸
• Economies of scale 🗸🗸
• Limited size of the market 🗸🗸
• Exclusive ownership of raw materials 🗸🗸
• Licensing 🗸🗸
• Sole rights 🗸🗸
• Import restrictions 🗸🗸

They decide on their production level

• The monopolist cannot set the level of output and the price independently of each other. 🗸🗸
• If a monopolist wants to charge a higher price, it has to sell fewer units of goods. 🗸🗸 Alternatively, a reduction in price will result in a higher output sold. 🗸🗸
• A monopolist is confronted with a normal market demand curve 🗸🗸
• The demand curve slopes downwards from left to right 🗸🗸
• Any point on the monopolist’s demand curve (D) is an indication of the quantity of the product that can be sold and the price at which it will trade. 🗸🗸

They are exposed to market forces

• Consumers have limited budgets and a monopoly can therefore not demand excessive prices for its product. 🗸🗸
• The monopolist’s product has to compete for the consumer’s favour and money with all other products available in the economy. 🗸🗸

They face substitutes

• There are few products that have no close substitutes. 🗸🗸
• For example, cell phones can compete with telephone services. 🗸🗸

They may enjoy favourable circumstances

• Sometimes an entrepreneur may enjoy favourable circumstances in a certain geographical area. 🗸🗸
• For example, there may be only one supplier of milk in a particular town. 🗸🗸

They may exploit consumers

• Because a monopolist is the only supplier of a product, there is always the possibility of consumer exploitation. 🗸🗸
• However, most governments continually take steps to guard against such practices. 🗸🗸

Market Information

• All information on market conditions is available to both buyers and sellers. 🗸🗸
• This means that there are no uncertainties. 🗸🗸

Control over price

• In the case of a monopoly there are considerable price control, but limited by market demand and the goal of profit maximisation. 🗸🗸

Long-run economic profit Can be positive

• Because new entries are blocked and short-run economic profit therefore cannot be reduced by new competing firms entering the industry 🗸🗸
• The monopoly can thus continue to earn economic profit as long as the demand for its product remains intact 🗸🗸

Heading = 1 mark AC = 1 mark DD/AR = 1 mark MC = 1 mark Profit maximisation point =1 mark Labelling of the axis = 1 mark Labelling on the axis = 1 mark

Long run equilibrium of a perfect competitor

CONCLUSION A monopoly does not always make economic profit in the short run; it can also make economic loss in the short run if the total cost exceeds total revenue. 🗸🗸

INTRODUCTION

• The oligopoly is a type of imperfect market in which only a few large producers dominate the market. 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant and correct response]

MAIN PART Nature of product

• The product may be homogeneous in a pure oligopoly. 🗸🗸
• If the product is differentiated, it is known as a differentiated oligopoly. 🗸🗸

Market information

• There is incomplete information on the product and the prices. 🗸🗸
•  Market entry is not easy, it is limited in the sense that huge capital outlay might be necessary. 🗸🗸
• Oligopolists have considerable control over price, it can influence price, but not as much as the monopolist. 🗸🗸
• Oligopolies can frequently change their prices in order to increase their market share and this result in price wars. 🗸🗸

Mutual dependence

• The decision of one firm will influence and be influenced by the decisions of the other competitors. 🗸🗸
• Mutual dependence (interdependence) exists amongst these businesses.
• A change in the price or change in the market share by one firm is reflected in the sales of the others. 🗸🗸

Non-price competition

• Non - price competition can be through advertising, packaging, after-sales services. 🗸🗸
• Since price competition can result in destructive price wars, oligopolies prefer to compete on a different basis. 🗸🗸
• Participants observe one another carefully- when one oligopolist launches an advertising campaign, its competitors soon follow suite. 🗸🗸
• If oligopolies operate as a cartel, firms have an absolute cost advantage over the rest of the other competitors in the industry. 🗸🗸
• Collusion is a strategy used by firms to eliminate competition amongst each other. 🗸🗸
• It can be in a form of overt collusion where firms can work together to form a cartel and tacit collusion where a dominating business controls the price. 🗸🗸

Limited competition

• There are only a few suppliers manufacturing the same product. 🗸🗸

Economic profit

• Oligopolies can make an economic profit over the long term. 🗸🗸
• Abnormal profits may result to joint decision-making in an oligopoly. 🗸🗸

Demand curve

• Slope from left down to the right. 🗸🗸
• It is known as the kinked demand since it contains the upper relatively elastic slope and the lower relatively inelastic slope. 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant and correct response] [Max. 26]

ADDITIONAL PART Oligopolist may increase their market share using non-price competition strategies by:

• branding their product to create an impression that its product is for a particular age group or income group. 🗸🗸
• aggressive advertising which inform customers about the business or product it provides.🗸🗸
• Using appealing packaging to bring out important features of their product.
• improving their customer service in order to ensure that they return to their businesses.🗸🗸
• providing relevant and precise information, which is crucial to the customers, since there are competitors in the market, customers will patronize the businesses that provides relevant information. 🗸🗸
• extending shopping hours to the convenience of customers.
• Offering loyalty rewards to customers which will encourage their return to spend accumulated rewards. 🗸🗸  [Accept any other relevant response] [Max.10]
• In South Africa, oligopolists have been found to be illegally manipulating prices to their benefit, yet to the detriment of consumers and have been penalized for such action. 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant response]

Compare and contrast any TWO types of market structures (perfect to imperfect/imperfect to imperfect) in detail in terms of the following. - Number of businesses - Nature of product - Entrance - Control over prices - Information - Examples - Demand curve - Economic profit/loss - Decision-making - Collusion - Productive/Technical efficiency - Allocative efficiency (Perfect Market and Imperfect Market)

‘’Market structures are classified under Perfect Competition, Monopolistic Competition, Oligopoly and Monopoly’’ Compare all FOUR market structures in a tabular form. NB: Learners should write in full sentences even if the comparison is done in a tabular format). (Marks depend on the combination of market structures to be examined)

PLEASE NOTE: THE ABOVE TABLE SHOULD BE VERBALLY WRITTEN AS PER ESSAY INSTRUCTION

INTRODUCTION Market failure is when the forces of supply and demand fail to allocate resources efficiently / when markets fail to allocate goods and services efficiently. 🗸🗸 [Accept any other correct introduction] [Max 2]

BODY: MAIN PART                           

1. Missing Markets

• Markets are often incomplete in the sense that they cannot meet the demand for certain goods. 🗸🗸
• Public goods:
• They are not provided by the price mechanism because producers cannot withhold the goods from non-payment and there is often no way of measuring how much a person consumes. 🗸🗸

Public goods have the following features: Non-rivalry:

• The consumption by one person does not reduce the consumption of another person e.g. a lighthouse. 🗸🗸

Non-excludability:

• Consumption cannot be confined to those who have paid, so there are free riders e.g. radio and TV in South Africa. 🗸🗸

Merit goods

• These are goods/services that are deemed necessary or beneficial to the society, e.g. education, health care etc. 🗸🗸
• These goods are highly desirable for general welfare but not highly rated by the market, therefore provide inadequate output/supply. 🗸🗸
• If people had to pay market prices for them relatively too little would be consumed – the market will fail. 🗸🗸
• The reason for undersupply of merit goods is that the market only takes the private costs and benefits into account and not the social costs and benefits. 🗸🗸

Demerit goods

• These are goods/services that are regarded as bad or harmful for consumption hence we should use less of these e.g. alcohol, cigarettes, etc. 🗸🗸
• Demerit goods lead to a lot of social costs, therefore, the government charges sin tax / excise duties to discourage the consumption of such goods. 🗸🗸
• While the market is willing to supply demerit goods, it tends to oversupply demerit goods. 🗸🗸
• Some consumers may be unaware of the true cost of consuming them. 🗸🗸

2 Lack of information

• Technical and allocative efficiency require that both producers and consumers have complete and accurate information about the costs and benefits of the goods and services produced and consumed in the market. Producers and consumers make production and consumption decisions based on the information they have. 🗸🗸
• When information is incomplete or inaccurate, it leads to wrong decisions about what to produce, how to produce and for whom to produce, and a waste of resources occurs. 🗸🗸
• Producers might not know all the different technologies and production techniques that are available and the different resources that can best be used to produce goods/services more efficiently. 🗸🗸
• Consumers might not know that the price of a product is lower from some other suppliers or about the harmful effects of a product since they might just base their decisions to consume on the information from a misleading suppliers. 🗸🗸

3. Immobility of factors of production

• Markets do not respond to changes in consumer demand if resources cannot be easily reallocated or due to a lack of information🗸🗸
• Labour takes time to move to into new occupations and geographically to meet the changes in consumer demand. 🗸🗸
• Physical capital e.g. equipment, buildings, land and raw materials can only move from one place to another at a high cost, but cannot be moved to fit a change in demand. 🗸🗸
• Technological applications change production methods e.g. use of robots rather than physical labour. It takes time for most industries to adapt. 🗸🗸
• With greater technological change there is an increasing need for workers to become flexible, to update skills, change employment, occupations and work patterns. 🗸🗸 [Max 26]
• Motivate why government has implemented a national minimum wage in the labour market. 🗸🗸
• Pressure was put on the South African government to introduce labour laws which require employers to pay minimum wages. 🗸🗸
• The application of minimum wage laws is needed to improve a redistribution of income. 🗸🗸

The main objectives were:

• To redress inequality (Gap between wealthy and poor) 🗸🗸
• To improve the standard of living. 🗸🗸
•  Government tried to protect domestic workers and farm workers — thus preventing exploitation. 🗸🗸  [Max 10] [Accept any other correct relevant response]

CONCLUSION Governments intervene in the market when market forces cannot achieve the desired output. [Max 2] [Accept any other relevant conclusion]

INTRODUCTION The purpose of government intervention is to ensure that the right quantity of resources is allocated to the production of output so that society as a whole [Accept any other relevant introduction] [Max 2] maximizes its benefits. 🗸🗸

• Sometimes government will set the price of a good or service at a maximum level that is  below the market price 🗸🗸
• The government intervene and passes a law that suppliers may not charge more than the maximum price 🗸🗸
• The immediate effect is that quantity supply will drop 🗸🗸
• The original market equilibrium price and quantity is P and Q respectively 🗸🗸
• The price set by the government is P1, at this price the demand will increase to Q1 and the supply will decrease to Q2 🗸🗸
• The difference between Q1 and Q2 is the shortfall that will be created on the market 🗸🗸
• The shortage caused by the price ceiling creates a problem of how to allocate the good since the demand has increased 🗸🗸
• Black markets start to develop [Mark allocation: Graph 6 and discussion max. 10 marks]
• The appropriate way to intervene in the market by government is by levying taxes as a method to recover external cost 🗸🗸
• The original market equilibrium at e, with P as the equilibrium price and Q as the equilibrium quantity 🗸🗸
• The tax increase will shift the supply curve to the left 🗸🗸
• New equilibrium at E1 🗸🗸
• A tax would raise the price from P to P1 🗸🗸
• The production will decrease from Q to Q1 🗸🗸 [Mark allocation: Graph total 6 marks and discussion max 10 marks]
• Explain the supply of undesirable goods in South Africa and how the government can deal with it. 🗸🗸
• Items such as cigarettes, alcohol and non-prescription drugs are examples of demerit or undesirable goods. 🗸🗸
• These goods are often over supplied in the market, due to the fact that the external cost is not added to the market price. 🗸🗸
• Some consumers may be unaware of the true cost of consuming them, their negative externalities. 🗸🗸
• Government can ban their consumption or reduce it by means of taxation. 🗸🗸
• Taxation on these products will increase the market price and hopefully the demand for these products will drop. 🗸🗸 [10 marks] [Accept any other correct relevant response]

CONCLUSION The intervention of government ensures that inefficiencies is eliminated and that the market is operating effectively 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant conclusion] [Max 2]

CONTEMPORARY ECONOMIC ISSUES-PAPER 2

• This is a constant and significant increase in the general price level of goods and services in the country over a certain period of time, e.g. a year. 🗸🗸 [Max 2] [Accept any relevant introduction]

BODY-MAIN PART Creditors and Debtors

• Whereas borrowers (debtors) benefit from price increases, lenders (creditors) suffer due to price increases. 🗸🗸
• This is because borrowers receive money with a relatively high purchasing power and they repay their loans with money with low purchasing power, unless interest rates are sufficient to prevent this occurrence. 🗸🗸

Salary and Wage Earners

• Price increases affect people whose incomes are relatively fixed (in other words, people whose incomes remains constant or do not increase at the same rate as prices do. 🗸🗸
• This group includes retired people, pensioners and the poor. 🗸🗸
• As prices increase, their almost fixed incomes purchase less and less. 🗸🗸
• However there are individuals and entrepreneurs whose incomes often increase at a rate that is higher than the inflation rate and they do not suffer but gain from inflation. 🗸🗸
• Globalization results in increased employment opportunities in the economy due to increased productivity, the need to produce more goods both for local and international markets rises in globalised economies. 🗸🗸
• The demand for increased skilled labour becomes a need as a result, this demand for labour benefits the local labour market in increased employment opportunities and growth. 🗸🗸

Investors and Savers

• Different types of investments are affected by inflation: Assets with fixed nominal values. 🗸🗸
• These assets have a fixed nominal value and give a return if they are held until maturity. 🗸🗸
• When they are paid, because their nominal values remain constant, the purchasing power of the nominal values decreases as prices increase (that is, their real value decreases). 🗸🗸

Assets with Flexible Market Values

• The holders of shares and fixed property usually gain by price increases because the nominal values of these assets tend to increase at least proportionately to the rate of inflation (that is, their market values are flexible). 🗸🗸
• Often the prices of these assets increase more rapidly than increases in the general price level.🗸🗸
• In this case, inflation creates wealth to the advantage of those holding such assets. 🗸🗸
• South Africa has a progressive personal income tax system. 🗸🗸
• This means that marginal and average tax rates increase in harmony with the income level. 🗸🗸
• The higher level an individual’s income, the greater the percentage of income he or she has to pay tax. 🗸🗸
• With inflation, taxpayers’ nominal income (wages and salaries) rise even when their real income remain unchanged. 🗸🗸

Taxes are levied on nominal income and not on real income.

• Therefore if the income tax schedule remains unchanged inflation increases the average rate of personal income tax. 🗸🗸
• Individuals will have to pay higher taxes even if they are actually no better off than before. 🗸🗸
• This phenomenon known as bracket creep, lads to a redistribution of income from taxpayers to the government. 🗸🗸
• Bracket deep results from a combination of inflation and progressive income tax. 🗸🗸
• It has the same effect as an increase in the tax rate. 🗸🗸

Industrial Peace

• Wage bargaining is often accompanied by strikes and mass action. 🗸🗸
• These actions can sometimes spill over into violence, which affects society at large. 🗸🗸
• In extreme situations in the presence of exceptionally high inflation together with a government that is determined not to yield to wage increase demands (which can push inflation to even higher levels), widespread civil unrest follows. 🗸🗸

Inflation has a negative effect on economic growth

• Inflation leads to increased uncertainty in the economy. 🗸🗸
• This uncertainty discourages savings and investments especially in the long term. 🗸🗸
• Which are necessary for economic growth –result reduced economic growth. 🗸🗸

Inflation affects the real money value and savings

• Because inflation reduces the real value of money, it affects the real value of money saved in particular. 🗸🗸
• This means that inflation, the rand buys fewer goods and services than before. 🗸🗸
• It also means that the real money value saved is worth less at the end of the savings period than when the money was saved. 🗸🗸
• e.g. if a consumer receives 5 % interest on his/her savings account while the inflation rate is 8%, then the real rate of interest on the consumer’s savings is -3%.🗸🗸

Inflation has an adverse effect on a country’s balance of payments (BOP).

• If a country’s rate of inflation is higher than that of its trading partners the prices of exported goods increase while the prices of imported goods decrease. 🗸🗸
• This leads to loss of competitiveness in the export market, which in turn leads to decreased exports. 🗸🗸

This has a negative effect on the country’s balance of payments (BOP).

• The loss of export competiveness can also increase unemployment inflation affects the redistribution of income in a country. 🗸🗸

The effects of inflation are uneven.

• While it does not clearly benefit anyone and certainly harms most, it also harms some less than others. 🗸🗸
• Inflation also tends to redistribute income from low-income groups to higher income groups. 🗸🗸
• This is because people in the low income groups do not have assets than can rise in value faster than the rate of inflation to help them overcome the effects of inflation. 🗸🗸
• Powerful groups such as trade unions large companies and the wealthy people, are able to increase their share of national income at the expense of disadvantaged people such as pensioners the unemployed and the welfare recipients. 🗸🗸

Inflation has social and political costs

• When inflation continually causes rising prices it makes people unhappy and can disturb relations between employers and the employees and between customers and traders or service providers. 🗸🗸
• People in lower-income brackets feel severe effects of increases in the price of essential items such as bread, maize meal rental and transport costs. 🗸🗸
• This can lead to social unrest and political unrest. 🗸🗸

Inflation feeds on itself and causes further inflation

• This is called the inflation spiral. 🗸🗸 e.g. higher wage demands cause producers to increase their prices to maintain their profits.
• This happens again and again pushing prices further every time. 🗸🗸
• If the government does not keep this wage price spiral in check, inflation may get out of control and become hyperinflation. 🗸🗸 [Max 26]

ADDITIONAL PART Debate the merits (benefits) of administered prices by the government

• These are prices regulated by the government e.g. home owner’s costs on water/household fuel (paraffin and electricity) medical care (public hospitals) communication (telephone calls, telephone rentals and installations/postage cell communications /transport (petrol). 🗸🗸
• Most of the administered prices are adjusted once a year which brings price stability. 🗸🗸
• Regulated prices are restricted as to the extent to which prices may vary, depending on the government’s objectives. 🗸🗸
• Administered prices provide additional revenue to national treasury. 🗸🗸
• It appears that some of these prices remain extremely robust over the short term. 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant response] [Max 10]
• If inflation is not controlled by the proper and effective instruments, it can have challenging problems to the economy in general. 🗸🗸

INTRODUCTION COST PUSH Inflation is a sustained and significant increase in general price level over a period of time and a simultaneous decrease in the purchasing power of money. Accept any other relevant introduction. 🗸🗸 [Max 2] 

BODY: MAIN PART Causes of cost-push inflation

Increase in Wages:

• In South Africa, increase in wages constitute more than 50% of Gross Value Added at basic prices 🗸🗸
• If the increase in wages is not accompanied by an increase in production, the cost of production will rise 🗸🗸
• Producers will increase the prices of their products to offset the high cost of production strikes and stay-aways / labour union activities 🗸🗸

Key inputs/ increase in prices of imported capital goods

• When the prices of key inputs that are imported increase, domestic cost of production 🗸🗸
• increases especially in the manufacturing sector 🗸🗸
• Supply shocks e.g. sudden increase of oil causes a knock-off effect 🗸🗸

Exchange rate depreciation

• A decrease in the value of the rand will result in an increase in prices of imports 🗸🗸

Profit margins

• When firms increase profit margins, the prices that consumers pay also increase 🗸🗸
• Sometimes firms use their market power to push up prices 🗸🗸

Productivity

• Less productive factors of production will lead to increased cost per unit 🗸🗸
• Strikes and stay-aways often reduce production output and can result in price increases 🗸🗸

Natural disasters

• Natural disasters such as drought, flood and global warming can impact on the cost of production 🗸🗸
• This is often the case in relation to food prices 🗸🗸
• An increase in interest rates results businesses paying more money for capital loaned firms recover these costs by increasing the prices of their products 🗸🗸

Increase in taxation

• Increase in direct tax like company income tax may lead to businesses increasing their prices to offset the extra burden 🗸🗸
• Increase in indirect tax such as custom duty will lead to increase in costs of supplying a particular product, therefore the price will increase 🗸🗸
• Administered prices increase e.g. fuel prices
• Shoplifting and losses caused by employees are added to the prices of products 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant fact. Maximum 8 marks for headings] [Max. 26]

DEMAND PULL INFLATION Total spending on domestic goods and services in the economy consists of the spending by households, firms, the government and the foreign sector.

• Total spending = C + I + G + (X-M). 🗸🗸

Causes of demand inflation Increase in consumption [C] – consumers expenditure will increase mainly for three reasons:

• a. If consumers save less & spend more🗸🗸
• b. Decrease in personal income tax. 🗸🗸
• c. A greater availability of consumer credit, because of decrease in interest rate. 🗸🗸

Investment [I] –When business invest this increase demand for labour, cement, sand and bricks. 🗸🗸

• Supply cannot keep up with the increase in demand and this will increase prices. 🗸🗸
• Lower interest rates may result in an improvement in the sentiment and profit expectations of businesses. 🗸🗸
• Businesses invest more and this may lead to an increase in the demand of goods and services that are part of the investment (for example, a new building requires cement bricks and labour).🗸🗸
• If aggregate demand increases at a faster rate than aggregate supply, price increases will follow.🗸🗸

Government Spending [G] – Three main reasons.

• a. New capital projects🗸🗸
• b. Consumption expenditure on education, health, and protection. 🗸🗸
• c. Social expenditure on public work programme to create jobs and increase in social allowances. 🗸🗸

Export earnings [X]

• a. When economy of trading country improve. 🗸🗸
• b. When global economy expands. 🗸🗸

Access to credit

• There is greater availability of consumer credit (by means of credit cards) of the availability of cheaper credit as a result of decreases in lending rates. As new credit is extended the credit multiplier kicks in and more credit is created. 🗸🗸

Consumption spending

• Most governments will at times increase expenditures on education, health, protection and safety (for example, military equipment such as bomber jets and submarines). 🗸🗸

Social spending

• Governments sometimes feel they have to do something substantive about unemployment and poverty. 🗸🗸
• They borrow money and spend it on public works programmes or raise the level of social grants year after year at a higher rate than the inflation rate. 🗸🗸
• Such expenditures invariably lead to inflation because they add to aggregate demand without adding anything to aggregate supply. 🗸🗸

Commodities demand

• The world’s demand for commodities expands and contracts like business cycles do. During an expansionary period, foreign demand increases and this leads to greater volumes of exports. The income earned from these exports adds to aggregate demand and prices increase. 🗸🗸

BODY: ADDITIONAL PART YES / NO

• Inflation targeting is when a particular percentage is set as an acceptable level for an increase in general price levels 🗸🗸
• The SARB's inflation target is a range of 3% and 6% 🗸🗸
• The aim of inflation targeting policy is to achieve and maintain price stability 🗸🗸
• The implementation of the inflation target is easy to understand – expressed in numbers which makes it very clear and transparent 🗸🗸
• It reduces uncertainty and promotes sound planning in the public and private sectors 🗸🗸
• It provides an explicit yardstick that serves to discipline monetary policy and improves the accountability of the central banks 🗸🗸
• The SARB make use of monetary policy, specifically the repo rate to keep the inflation within the target range 🗸🗸
• The government make use of fiscal policy regarding public sector revenue and expenditure 🗸🗸

Positive effects

• Where demand is higher than supply an increase in interest rates help to bring the demand down 🗸🗸
• The policy can helps businesses to make economic plans without worrying about the effects of high inflation 🗸🗸
• South Africa's price level has been fairly stable since the introduction of the inflation targeting policy in 2000 🗸🗸

Negative effects

• Inflation targeting can cause a reduction in economic growth 🗸🗸
• This is because the raising of interest rates, result in a decrease in total spending which is needed for production to increase 🗸🗸
• Decreased economic growth can increase unemployment 🗸🗸
• South Africa has been experiencing an increase in unemployment since the implementation of the policy in 2000 🗸🗸
• Inflation targeting is difficult to implement when the cause of inflation is supply shocks 🗸🗸 [Max. 10]
• A summary of what has been discussed without repeating facts already mentioned in the body. 🗸🗸
• An opinion or valued judgement on the facts discussed. 🗸🗸
• Additional support information to strengthen the discussion. 🗸🗸
• A contradictory viewpoint with motivation. 🗸🗸
• Recommendations. 🗸🗸
• E.g. Inflation can be a threat to the normal functioning of the economy; therefore, measures like monetary and fiscal are vital to keep the phenomenon under control. 🗸🗸 
• This is the activities of people travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for a period not longer than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes and not related to a remunerative activity from within the place visited 🗸🗸 [Max 2]

BODY - MAIN PART Gross domestic product (GDP)

• Tourism impacts mostly on the services industry than on agriculture or manufacturing although there are upstream effects when agriculture provides foodstuffs to restaurants and manufacturing provides vehicles for transport 🗸🗸

Direct contribution on GDP

• Statistics South Africa (SSA) shows that in 2020 inbound tourists contributed R69 billion and domestic tourists R billion, amounting to R billion - about % of South Africa's GDP 🗸🗸

Indirect contribution on GDP

• If the indirect contribution is added, tourism add about % to GDP 🗸🗸
• The WTTC estimated that tourism contributed % to the GDP of the world economy in 2020🗸🗸
• In developing economies the service sector is responsible for around % of GDP, while it is responsible for more than % of GDP in developed economies 🗸🗸
• South Africa is similar to that of developed economies and services contributed more than % of GDP in 2020. 🗸🗸
• Tourism has a major effect on employment and this amounted to million workers in 2020🗸🗸
• Tourism is the world’s largest generator of jobs 🗸🗸
• Tourism is labour intensive 🗸🗸
• More jobs can be created with every unit of capital invested in tourism than elsewhere
• Tourism employs many skills 🗸🗸
• It ranges from accountants and hairdressers to tour guides and trackers, 🗸🗸
• the tourism industry draws upon numerous skills 🗸🗸
• Tourism can provide immediate employment 🗸🗸
• If one quarter of tourists’ accommodation establishment in South Africa starts to offer live entertainment to quests, thousands of entertainers could be employed within days 🗸🗸
• Tourism provides entrepreneurship opportunities 🗸🗸
• The tourism industry accommodates informal sector enterprises, from craft and fruit vendors to pavement vendors, chair rentals 🗸🗸
• Tourism is widely recognized as one of the fastest and more effective redistribution mechanisms in development 🗸🗸
• It brings development to the poor in rural areas 🗸🗸
• Tourism provides an alternative to urbanisation, permitting women and youth to continue a rural family lifestyle while giving them business opportunities 🗸🗸
• E.g. to start and operate small-scale tourism businesses around community asserts (forests, parks and rivers) 🗸🗸

Externalities

• The rapidly expanding tourism industry could have both positive and negative impacts that extend well into the future 🗸🗸
• While tourism attracts large amount of revenue, it can also cause undue environmental damage that can harm the very foundation on which it depends 🗸🗸
• All other economic resources, tourism uses resources and produces wastes and also creates environmental costs (pollution) and benefits in the process 🗸🗸
• Rapid growth in tourism aiming at short-term benefits usually results in more negative effects and these includes the degeneration of traditions and cultural values and environmental damage to sites and setting 🗸🗸

Environment Tourism activities create environmental stress:

• Permanent environmental restructuring which includes major infrastructure 🗸🗸
• Waste product generation such as biological and non-biological waste that damages fish production 🗸🗸
• Direct environmental stress caused by tourist activities, e.g. the destruction of vegetation and dunes 🗸🗸
• Effects on population dynamics such as migration and increased urban densities 🗸🗸
• Transport infrastructure, e.g. roads, airports 🗸🗸
• Communication and infrastructure including telephone lines, electronic signal stations and radio, TVs’ 🗸🗸
• Energy infrastructure such electricity and liquid fuel 🗸🗸
• Basic service infrastructure such as clean water and sewerage systems 🗸🗸 [Max. 26]

ADDITIONAL PART How can Indigenous Knowledge Systems be used to promote tourism in South Africa?

• More cultural villages can be improved to facilitate and promote tourism e.g. Shangana in Mpumalanga, Basotho in the Free State and Simunye Zulu Lodge in Kwazulu-Natal. 🗸🗸
• Where guides explain and demonstrate storytelling and indigenous knowledge practices. 🗸🗸
• Advertising campaigns domestically and internationally by travel agencies, hotels and B & B, lodges and SA Tourism can focus on promoting these heritage sites in brochures and fliers, social media. 🗸🗸
• These actions will make tourists more aware of these attractions 🗸🗸
• Encourage tourists to experience different cultures and townships - experience life at home with a household and eat at a shebeen or township restaurant 🗸🗸
• World Heritage Sites of South Africa can be promoted for their cultural significance e.g. the Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape, Vredefort Dome and Robben Island 🗸🗸
• Environmental World Heritage Sites of South Africa selected for their natural importance namely the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas, Isimangaliso Wetlands Park as well as uKhahlamba/Drakensberg Park which has been selected for its mixed significance 🗸🗸
• Arts and culture festivals e.g. the National Arts Festival, the Hermanus Festival, Awesome Africa Music Festival and Macufe African Cultural Festival should more widely be advertised to encourage tourists to attend 🗸🗸
• According to the World Health Organisation, a large majority of the African population make use of traditional medicines for health, social-cultural and economic reasons and forms part of the unique experience tourists experience when visiting local villages 🗸🗸
• In South Africa tourists are made more aware of the important role traditional medicine plays in poverty reduction and employment creation 🗸🗸
• Relaxation of restrictive tourist visa laws to facilitate easier entry into South Africa 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant answers] [Max. 10]
• South Africa attracted over million tourists in 2020 /For every 8.1 additional tourist to South Africa, one new job is created/one per cent increase in tourism adds R million annually to the SA economy. 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant higher order conclusion] [Max. 2]
• Tourism is the activities of people travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for no more than one consecutive year for leisure, business or other purposes PP 🗸🗸  [Accept any other correct relevant response] [Max 2]

MAIN PART Business sector

• Tourism stimulates business in areas such as accommodation and entertainment 🗸🗸
• The construction industry, in private-public partnership with the government to provide the infrastructure, manufacturing sector and recreation sector all benefits from increased demand due to tourism 🗸🗸
• The previously disadvantaged communities get entrepreneurial opportunities through the black economic empowerment schemes 🗸🗸
• A large number of people get business opportunities in the informal sector e.g. selling of artefacts 🗸🗸
• Local retailers may have an increase in sales (and profits) because of increased demand from tourists 🗸🗸
• Private businesses and government work in partnership to provide the infrastructure needed for tourism 🗸🗸
• This increases the market share of and income of the these businesses 🗸🗸
• Allow existing businesses to improve the quality and variety of their products PP 🗸🗸
• Allow natural monopolies e.g. Table Mountain Cableway to achieve abnormal profits PP 🗸🗸
• The public sector also provides a range of financial incentives for private sector tourism investment (grants, subsidies, loans, tax rebates) PP 🗸🗸 [Max 10]

Infrastructure development

• Adequate and well-maintained infrastructure is essential for tourist destinations PP. 🗸🗸
• Locals share this infrastructure with tourists 🗸🗸
• Government often prioritises economic infrastructure such as ports and beaches 🗸🗸
• In addition to physical and basic infrastructure, social infrastructure is also important for the growth of tourism🗸🗸
• Most of the SDIs and development corridors also have tourism as an important focus PP 🗸🗸 [Max 8]
• Members of households earn income from the tourism sector as tour operators, travel agents etc. 🗸🗸
• Many households are indirectly involved in tourism as employees e.g. in hotels, transport sector. 🗸🗸
• Entrepreneurs from households that operate as curio producers or musicians can earn income from tourism . 🗸🗸
• A large number of households acquire skills in the tourism industry. 🗸🗸
• School curriculum and learnership offer opportunities to acquire these skills . 🗸🗸
• Encourages rural development because many tourist attractions are located in rural areas PP 🗸🗸 [Accept any other correct relevant response] [Max. 26]

ADDITIONAL PART Tourism can be successfully marketed in less popular destinations by:

• advertising the firms' attractions in a variety of media including social media and internet which may reach both local and international potential tourists. 🗸🗸
• focusing on a clear message that concentrates on the strength of the attraction/ uniqueness of the destination. 🗸🗸
• using the indigenous knowledge systems of that particular area where possible PP. 🗸🗸
• describing the service offered in the best possible way to catch the interest of the likely tourist PP E.g. the use of slogans. 🗸🗸
• charging a price that is competitive and money well spent for the service offered. 🗸🗸
• helping the tourist to view the entire service as value for money – deliver a worldclass visitor experience 🗸🗸
• highlighting other places of interest in the vicinity of the attraction as part of a package 🗸🗸
• focusing on proudly South African products/services / Sho’t Left campaign PP 🗸🗸
• help disadvantaged South Africans to benefit from tourist attractions in the less popular destinations PP 🗸🗸 [Accept any other correct relevant response] [Max. 10]

CONCLUSION A weaker exchange rate has been a major contributing factor to South Africa's tourism industry growth over many years. 🗸🗸 [Accept any correct relevant response] [Max 2]

INTRODUCTION Environmental sustainability can be defined as development that meets the need of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. 🗸🗸

BODY: MAIN PART Public sector intervention Because it is difficult to enforce measures to ensure sustainability the government has to intervene. 🗸🗸

Environmental taxes Environmental taxes (green taxes) can be added to the cost of goods and services for the negative impact they have on the environment. 🗸🗸 The government uses the income generated through these taxes to protect the environment. 🗸🗸 Taxes can be imposed on petrol, paper, emission gases etc. 🗸🗸 In 2003 the government has legislated the use of biodegradable plastic bags which consumers had to pay for🗸🗸 The hope is that they will use fewer bags and ensure a litter free environment. 🗸🗸

Charging for dumping of waste A monthly fee as part of municipal accounts is charged for collection of waste, sewage and garbage. 🗸🗸 Households already pay for the collection of rubbish. 🗸🗸 The factory owner might clean up his waste if it cost him to dump it. 🗸🗸 Industries might also pay for emitting gases that can be harmful to people and the environment. 🗸🗸 Subsidies Subsidies can be awarded to businesses that are willing to reduce pollution and waste. 🗸🗸 Waste can also be reduced by using new techniques or equipment such as solar energy. 🗸🗸 Emission gases from factories can be reduced using new technology. 🗸🗸

Granting property rights Normally owners of properties tend to be more protective over their resources than users who are only interested in the profits the resources offer. 🗸🗸 For this reason the government might grant property rights over a specific area. 🗸🗸 Property rights empowers owners to negotiate contracts with businesses who wish to exploit the area’s resources. 🗸🗸

Marketable permits A government can decide on the maximum desired level of pollution in an area. 🗸🗸 It then distribute pollution rights (marketable permits) to factories within that area. 🗸🗸 This means that each factory can pollute to a certain limit. 🗸🗸 It means that marketable permits are licenses that polluters can buy or sell to meet the control levels set by government. 🗸🗸

Education Incorporating topics into the curriculum of school fosters awareness. 🗸🗸 The public is gradually been made aware of this rising problem. 🗸🗸 Plastic, bottles and cartons can be recycled or made biodegradable. 🗸🗸

Public sector control If the government’s intervention does not attain the desired results, then it has to intervene more directly by setting and enforcing limits. 🗸🗸

Environmental Impact Assessment In SA every projected construction, mining or similar development has to undergo an assessment by qualified environmental professionals. 🗸🗸 To prove that it will not cause unwarranted environmental damage and that the damage can be repaired after construction. 🗸🗸 The cost if built into the project. 🗸🗸

Command and Control Regulations that are set and enforce environmental limits or standards. 🗸🗸 Quantity: e.g. set the limit to the amount of fish to catch, or limit the season catching certain species of fish. 🗸🗸 Quality: e.g. drinking water quality is carefully monitored and controlled. 🗸🗸 Air quality in workplace is subject to minimum standards. 🗸🗸 Social effect: e.g. noxious fumes from factories, dumping of medical waste near settlements, and noise pollution. 🗸🗸

Voluntary agreements Agreements between government and businesses voluntarily to address negative environmental impacts of industries. 🗸🗸 Businesses voluntary agree to decrease the emissions of pollutants. 🗸🗸 Most prefer negotiations so that they can tailor their specific needs and include it into their planning🗸🗸 Agreements can be formal, which is legally binding contract or informal. 🗸🗸 [Max 26]

ADDITIONAL PART Government does not exercise effective control over the continuous dumping of waste because of a lack of coordination between departments. 🗸🗸 The fines imposed on industries that dump waste are too lenient and they continue polluting the environment. 🗸🗸

The minimum standards set for hazardous gas and fuel emissions are not enforced or adjusted. 🗸🗸 The recycling of waste materials are not widely encouraged and promoted and landfill sites are overflowing. 🗸🗸 Government has various laws that is not really effectively implemented. 🗸🗸 Poor service delivery also adds to the problem in certain areas. 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant answer] [Max 10]

CONCLUSION Each and every individual, business and government needs to stand together to save our planet. [Accept any other relevant conclusion] [Max 2] Discuss in detail the following problems and the international measures taken to ensure sustainable development (Environmental Sustainability)

INTRODUCTION Environment refers to the physical surroundings and physical conditions that affect people’s lives. 🗸🗸 The ever-increasing pressure on our environment originates from increasing population numbers and excessive consumption🗸🗸 Our air, land, and water are under constant assault from the ever-growing ravages of man-made pollution generated chiefly by industrialized societies. 🗸🗸 [Accept any appropriate introduction] [Max 2]

BODY-MAIN PART Conservation

• Conservation is necessary because human actions cause pollution and over-utilisation of  resources. 🗸🗸
• Conservation is a strategy aimed at achieving the sustainable use and management of natural resources. 🗸🗸
• Conservation seeks a creative continuity of the environment while ensuring that change is sympathetic to the quality of life for both present and future generations. 🗸🗸
• Certain aspects of conservation need to be taken into account.
• Firstly, there is an opportunity cost. 🗸🗸
• Secondly, externalities are often present. 🗸🗸
• Lastly, self-interest has a short term horizon – meaning that decisions cannot be left entirely to market forces. 🗸🗸
• Over utilization of resources causes a reduction in supply, increase in prices, contradiction of demand and a search for substitutes. 🗸🗸
• This necessitates conservation of both renewable and non-renewable resources. 🗸🗸
• Conservation has to be concerned with limiting what is harvested in order to maintain a stable stock at least at the minimum level. 🗸🗸
• Government can use permits and quotas as two possible direct control methods in order to maintain the stock of resources at the minimum level. 🗸🗸

Preservation

• Preservation involves any strategy undertaken to safeguard the environment, maintain its current condition and keep it as habitable as possible for people and animals. 🗸🗸
• Heritage sites, indigenous forests, specifies of animals etc. that have special cultural or environmental significance, are often targeted preservation. 🗸🗸
• Preservation is not likely to work as a private enterprise because the benefit to society is much bigger than the income of the producer. 🗸🗸
• It may be possible to use cost-benefit analysis to calculate the social benefits of preservation of the environment.
• The weaknesses in market solutions require the government to intervene in order to preserve environment assets. 🗸🗸
• Government could do any of the following:
• Buy or expropriate – Environmental assets are simply closed for human use. 🗸🗸
• Subsidise-A subsidy would increase net benefits to the owner and raise the property’s present value. 🗸🗸
• Controls – The government can compel the owner to apply control measures like restricting the quantities exploited or number of visitors allowed per day. 🗸🗸 [26 Max]

ADDITIONAL PART Stockholm Conference (1972)

• The Stockholm Conference was the first major large scale international meeting on the environment convened with the support of the United Nations. 🗸🗸
• The meeting agreed upon a declaration containing 26 principles concerning the environment and development, an action plan with 109 recommendations and a resolution. 🗸🗸
• The meeting directly impacted on the environmental policies of many countries. 🗸🗸

Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit (1992)

• This meeting acknowledged the importance of cooperation in addressing environmental concerns that threaten sustainability. 🗸🗸
• The conference helped to make countries around the world aware of the dangers of unsustainable development. 🗸🗸
• Unfortunately the principles outlined and accepted at the summit were not binding and subsequently many countries did not confirm to them. 🗸🗸

Rio + 5 (1997)

• This conference noted that globalization made some countries poorer – 🗸🗸
• In particular African countries and the least developed countries showed a low level of growth or even declined. 🗸🗸

Kyoto Protocol for Climate Change (1997)

• Countries committed themselves to reducing their total emissions of greenhouse by 5 %.🗸🗸
• Unfortunately, China was excluded from this agreement and the USA withdrew. 🗸🗸

World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002)

• The objective of this summit held in Johannesburg was to conserve natural resources in a world that is growing in population. 🗸🗸
• The meeting focused on issues like poverty eradication, water and sanitation, energy, health agriculture and biodiversity. 🗸🗸

COP 17 (2011)

• The main goal of the conference held in Durban was to establish a treaty to limit carbon emissions and plan strategies to keep global temperature rise to less than 2 degree Celsius in the 21st Century. 🗸🗸
• Although the framework for this treaty was established it was not finalised. 🗸🗸
• The solution to our environmental problems will depend on our ability to make sound economic decisions that take account of the natural environment and to change our individual behaviour and attitudes. 🗸🗸 [Accept any other relevant conclusion] [Max 2]

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FT Schools competition: Young Economist of the Year

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

This article is part of the Financial Times free schools access programme. Details/registration  here .

School students across the UK in years 12 and 13 are invited to enter the Young Economist of the Year competition run by the Royal Economic Society in association with the Financial Times. 

Applicants — who need not be studying economics — have until July 25 to write up to 1,000 words on one of the five questions picked for this year.

The winning article will be published in the Financial Times and on the RES website and the author will receive £1,000, with £200 for each of the runners up. 

Entries will be judged on originality, quality of writing, economic content and quality of the economic argument. 

The five questions are:

When, if ever, is it a good idea for central banks to set interest rates below zero? 

How is Brexit going to change the economic geography of the UK?

Will the legacy of Covid-19 be an economically more unequal world?

Technological change means that the wage gap between the skilled and unskilled will simply keep growing. Do you agree with this assessment? 

We will fail to address climate change because Covid-19 showed we are unable to muster a concerted global response to common crises. Do you agree?

The competition is part of the  FT’s schools programme , which provides free access to the FT for students aged 16-19, their teachers and schools around the world.

Supporting ideas and data for entrants can be found in the FT. Full details and information on submission are available on the  RES competition website .

Promoted Content

Follow the topics in this article.

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International Edition

Submissions for Equilibrium are now open! The Semester 2 regular deadline is April 17th, 2024.

Harker Oeconomia

Harvard international economics essay competition, description.

The 2023 Harvard International Economics Essay Contest is sponsored by the Harvard Undergraduate Economics Association (HUEA) in conjunction with the Harvard College Economics Review (HCER). This essay competition is open to high school students of any year and is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate an accomplished level of writing and understanding of economic theory. Through the contest, student competitors hone their academic and professional skills and exhibit their knowledge to future employers and academic programs.  Competitors must construct a convincing argument using economic theory and real-world examples.  Winning essays will be published in the Harvard Economics Review and will be available for the greater Harvard community to read. Essays should focus on argumentation supported with facts and references, although data-based support is also welcome.

Essay  COMPETITION

2024 global essay prize, registrations are now open all essayists must register  here  before friday 31 may, 2024.

The John Locke Institute encourages young people to cultivate the characteristics that turn good students into great writers: independent thought, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis and persuasive style. Our Essay Competition invites students to explore a wide range of challenging and interesting questions beyond the confines of the school curriculum.

Entering an essay in our competition can build knowledge, and refine skills of argumentation. It also gives students the chance to have their work assessed by experts. All of our essay prizes are judged by a panel of senior academics drawn from leading universities including Oxford and Princeton, under the leadership of the Chairman of Examiners, former Cambridge philosopher, Dr Jamie Whyte.

The judges will choose their favourite essay from each of seven subject categories - Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology and Law - and then select the winner of the Grand Prize for the best entry in any subject. There is also a separate prize awarded for the best essay in the junior category, for under 15s.

Q1. Do we have any good reasons to trust our moral intuition?

Q2. Do girls have a (moral) right to compete in sporting contests that exclude boys?

Q3. Should I be held responsible for what I believe?

Q1. Is there such a thing as too much democracy?

Q2. Is peace in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip possible?

Q3. When is compliance complicity?

Q1. What is the optimal global population?  

Q2. Accurate news reporting is a public good. Does it follow that news agencies should be funded from taxation?

Q3. Do successful business people benefit others when making their money, when spending it, both, or neither?

Q1. Why was sustained economic growth so rare before the later 18th century and why did this change?

Q2. Has music ever significantly changed the course of history?

Q3. Why do civilisations collapse? Is our civilisation in danger?

Q1. When, if ever, should a company be permitted to refuse to do business with a person because of that person’s public statements?

Q2. In the last five years British police have arrested several thousand people for things they posted on social media. Is the UK becoming a police state?

Q3. Your parents say that 11pm is your bedtime. But they don’t punish you if you don’t go to bed by 11pm. Is 11pm really your bedtime?

Q1. According to a study by researchers at four British universities, for each 15-point increase in IQ, the likelihood of getting married increases by around 35% for a man but decreases by around 58% for a woman. Why?

In the original version of this question we misstated a statistic. This was caused by reproducing an error that appeared in several media summaries of the study. We are grateful to one of our contestants, Xinyi Zhang, who helped us to see (with humility and courtesy) why we should take more care to check our sources. We corrected the text on 4 April. Happily, the correction does not in any way alter the thrust of the question.

Q2. There is an unprecedented epidemic of depression and anxiety among young people. Can we fix this? How?

Q3. What is the difference between a psychiatric illness and a character flaw?

Q1. “I am not religious, but I am spiritual.” What could the speaker mean by “spiritual”?

Q2. Is it reasonable to thank God for protection from some natural harm if He is responsible for causing the harm?

Q3. Does God reward those who believe in him? If so, why?

JUNIOR prize

Q1. Does winning a free and fair election automatically confer a mandate for governing?

Q2. Has the anti-racism movement reduced racism?

Q3. Is there life after death?

Q4. How did it happen that governments came to own and run most high schools, while leaving food production to private enterprise? 

Q5. When will advancing technology make most of us unemployable? What should we do about this?

Q6. Should we trust fourteen-year-olds to make decisions about their own bodies? 

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS & FURTHER DETAILS

Please read the following carefully.

Entry to the John Locke Institute Essay Competition 2024 is open to students from any country.

Registration  

Only candidates who registered before the registration deadline of Friday, 31 May 2024 may enter this year's competition. To register, click here .  

All entries must be submitted by 11.59 pm BST on  the submission deadline: Sunday, 30 June 2024 .  Candidates must be eighteen years old, or younger, on that date. (Candidates for the Junior Prize must be fourteen years old, or younger, on that date.)

Entry is free.

Each essay must address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category, and must not exceed 2000 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, endnotes, bibliography or authorship declaration). 

The filename of your pdf must be in this format: FirstName-LastName-Category-QuestionNumber.pdf; so, for instance, Alexander Popham would submit his answer to question 2 in the Psychology category with the following file name:

Alexander-Popham-Psychology-2.pdf

Essays with filenames which are not in this format will be rejected.

The candidate's name should NOT appear within the document itself. 

Candidates should NOT add footnotes. They may, however, add endnotes and/or a Bibliography that is clearly titled as such.

Each candidate will be required to provide the email address of an academic referee who is familiar with the candidate's written academic work. This should be a school teacher, if possible, or another responsible adult who is not a relation of the candidate. The John Locke Institute will email referees to verify that the essays submitted are indeed the original work of the candidates.

Submissions may be made as soon as registration opens in April. We recommend that you submit your essay well in advance of th e deadline to avoid any last-minute complications.

Acceptance of your essay depends on your granting us permission to use your data for the purposes of receiving and processing your entry as well as communicating with you about the Awards Ceremony Dinner, the academic conference, and other events and programmes of the John Locke Institute and its associated entities.  

Late entries

If for any reason you miss the 30 June deadline you will have an opportunity to make a late entry, under two conditions:

a) A late entry fee of 20.00 USD must be paid by credit card within twenty-four hours of the original deadline; and

b) Your essay must be submitted  before 11.59 pm BST on Wednesday, 10 July 2024.

To pay for late entry, a registrant need only log into his or her account, select the relevant option and provide the requested payment information.

Our grading system is proprietary. Essayists may be asked to discuss their entry with a member of the John Locke Institute’s faculty. We use various means to identify plagiarism, contract cheating, the use of AI and other forms of fraud . Our determinations in all such matters are final.

Essays will be judged on knowledge and understanding of the relevant material, the competent use of evidence, quality of argumentation, originality, structure, writing style and persuasive force. The very best essays are likely to be those which would be capable of changing somebody's mind. Essays which ignore or fail to address the strongest objections and counter-arguments are unlikely to be successful .

Candidates are advised to answer the question as precisely and directly as possible.

The writers of the best essays will receive a commendation and be shortlisted for a prize. Writers of shortlisted essays will be notified by 11.59 pm BST on Wednesday, 31 July. They will also be invited to London for an invitation-only academic conference and awards dinner in September, where the prize-winners will be announced. Unlike the competition itself, the academic conference and awards dinner are not free. Please be aware that n obody is required to attend either the academic conference or the prize ceremony. You can win a prize without travelling to London.

All short-listed candidates, including prize-winners, will be able to download eCertificates that acknowledge their achievement. If you win First, Second or Third Prize, and you travel to London for the ceremony, you will receive a signed certificate. 

There is a prize for the best essay in each category. The prize for each winner of a subject category, and the winner of the Junior category, is a scholarship worth US$2000 towards the cost of attending any John Locke Institute programme, and the essays will be published on the Institute's website. Prize-giving ceremonies will take place in London, at which winners and runners-up will be able to meet some of the judges and other faculty members of the John Locke Institute. Family, friends, and teachers are also welcome.

The candidate who submits the best essay overall will be awarded an honorary John Locke Institute Junior Fellowship, which comes with a US$10,000 scholarship to attend one or more of our summer schools and/or visiting scholars programmes. 

The judges' decisions are final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

R egistration opens: 1 April, 2024.

Registration deadline: 31 May, 2024. (Registration is required by this date for subsequent submission.)

Submission deadline: 30 June, 2024.

Late entry deadline: 10 July, 2024. (Late entries are subject to a 20.00 USD charge, payable by 1 July.)

Notification of short-listed essayists: 31 July, 2024.

Academic conference: 20 - 22 September, 2024.

Awards dinner: 21 September, 2024.

Any queries regarding the essay competition should be sent to [email protected] . Please be aware that, due to the large volume of correspondence we receive, we cannot guarantee to answer every query. In particular, regrettably, we are unable to respond to questions whose answers can be found on our website.

If you would like to receive helpful tips  from our examiners about what makes for a winning essay or reminders of upcoming key dates for the 2024  essay competition, please provide your email here to be added to our contact list. .

Thanks for subscribing!

The John Locke Institute's Global Essay Prize is acknowledged as the world's most prestigious essay competition. 

We welcome tens of thousands of submissions from ambitious students in more than 150 countries, and our examiners - including distinguished philosophers, political scientists, economists, historians, psychologists, theologians, and legal scholars - read and carefully assess every entry. 

I encourage you to register for this competition, not only for the hope of winning a prize or commendation, and not only for the chance to join the very best contestants at our academic conference and gala ceremony in London, but equally for the opportunity to engage in the serious scholarly enterprise of researching, reflecting on, writing about, and editing an answer to one of the important and provocative questions in this year's Global Essay Prize. 

We believe that the skills you will acquire in the process will make you a better thinker and a more effective advocate for the ideas that matter most to you.

I hope to see you in September!

Best wishes,

Jamie Whyte, Ph.D. (C ANTAB ) 

Chairman of Examiners

Q. I missed the registration deadline. May I still register or submit an essay?

A. No. Only candidates who registered before 31 May will be able to submit an essay. 

Q. Are footnote s, endnotes, a bibliography or references counted towards the word limit?

A. No. Only the body of the essay is counted. 

Q. Are in-text citations counted towards the word limit? ​

A. If you are using an in-text based referencing format, such as APA, your in-text citations are included in the word limit.

Q. Is it necessary to include foo tnotes or endnotes in an essay? ​

A. You  may not  include footnotes, but you may include in-text citations or endnotes. You should give your sources of any factual claims you make, and you should ackn owledge any other authors on whom you rely.​

Q. I am interested in a question that seems ambiguous. How should I interpret it?

A. You may interpret a question as you deem appropriate, clarifying your interpretation if necessary. Having done so, you must answer the question as directly as possible.

Q. How strict are  the age eligibility criteria?

A. Only students whose nineteenth birthday falls after 30 June 2024 will be eligible for a prize or a commendation. In the case of the Junior category, only students whose fifteenth birthday falls after 30 June 2024 will be eligible for a prize or a commendation. 

Q. May I submit more than one essay?

A. Yes, you may submit as many essays as you please in any or all categories.

Q. If I am eligible to compete in the Junior category, may I also (or instead) compete in another category?

A. Yes, you may.

Q. May I team up with someone else to write an essay?  

A. No. Each submitted essay must be entirely the work of a single individual.

Q. May I use AI, such as ChatGPT or the like, in writing my essay?

A. All essays will be checked for the use of AI. If we find that any content is generated by AI, your essay will be disqualified. We will also ask you, upon submission of your essay, whether you used AI for  any  purpose related to the writing of your essay, and if so, you will be required to provide details. In that case, if, in our judgement, you have not provided full and accurate details of your use of AI, your essay will be disqualified. 

Since any use of AI (that does not result in disqualification) can only negatively affect our assessment of your work relative to that of work that is done without using AI, your safest course of action is simply not to use it at all. If, however, you choose to use it for any purpose, we reserve the right to make relevant judgements on a case-by-case basis and we will not enter into any correspondence. 

Q. May I have someone else edit, or otherwise help me with, my essay?

A. You may of course discuss your essay with others, and it is perfectly acceptable for them to offer general advice and point out errors or weaknesses in your writing or content, leaving you to address them.

However, no part of your essay may be written by anyone else. This means that you must edit your own work and that while a proofreader may point out errors, you as the essayist must be the one to correct them. 

Q. Do I have to attend the awards ceremony to win a prize? ​

A. Nobody is required to attend the prize ceremony. You can win a prize without travelling to London. But if we invite you to London it is because your essay was good enough - in the opinion of the First Round judges - to be at least a contender for First, Second or Third Prize. Normally the Second Round judges will agree that the short-listed essays are worth at least a commendation.

Q. Is there an entry fee?

A. No. There is no charge to enter our global essay competition unless you submit your essay after the normal deadline, in which case there is a fee of 20.00 USD .

Q. Can I receive a certificate for my participation in your essay competition if I wasn't shortlisted? 

A. No. Certificates are awarded only for shortlisted essays. Short-listed contestants who attend the award ceremony in London will receive a paper certificate. If you cannot travel to London, you will be able to download your eCertificate.

Q. Can I receive feedba ck on my essay? 

A. We would love to be able to give individual feedback on essays but, unfortunately, we receive too many entries to be able to comment on particular essays.

Q. The deadline for publishing the names of short-listed essayists has passed but I did not receive an email to tell me whether I was short-listed.

A. Log into your account and check "Shortlist Status" for (each of) your essay(s).

Q. Why isn't the awards ceremony in Oxford this year?

A. Last year, many shortlisted finalists who applied to join our invitation-only academic conference missed the opportunity because of capacity constraints at Oxford's largest venues. This year, the conference will be held in central London and the gala awards dinner will take place in an iconic London ballroom. 

TECHNICAL FAQ s

Q. The system will not accept my essay. I have checked the filename and it has the correct format. What should I do?  

A. You have almost certainly added a space before or after one of your names in your profile. Edit it accordingly and try to submit again.

Q. The profile page shows my birth date to be wrong by a day, even after I edit it. What should I do?

A. Ignore it. The date that you typed has been correctly input to our database. ​ ​

Q. How can I be sure that my registration for the essay competition was successful? Will I receive a confirmation email?

A. You will not receive a confirmation email. Rather, you can at any time log in to the account that you created and see that your registration details are present and correct.

TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR SUBMISSION

If you are unable to submit your essay to the John Locke Institute’s global essay competition, your problem is almost certainly one of the following.

If so, please proceed as indicated.

1) PROBLEM: I receive the ‘registrations are now closed’ message when I enter my email and verification code. SOLUTION. You did not register for the essay competition and create your account. If you think you did, you probably only provided us with your email to receive updates from us about the competition or otherwise. You may not enter the competition this year.

2) PROBLEM I do not receive a login code after I enter my email to enter my account. SOLUTION. Enter your email address again, checking that you do so correctly. If this fails, restart your browser using an incognito window; clear your cache, and try again. Wait for a few minutes for the code. If this still fails, restart your machine and try one more time. If this still fails, send an email to [email protected] with “No verification code – [your name]” in the subject line.

SUBMITTING AN ESSAY

3) PROBLEM: The filename of my essay is in the correct format but it is rejected. SOLUTION: Use “Edit Profile” to check that you did not add a space before or after either of your names. If you did, delete it. Whether you did or did not, try again to submit your essay. If submission fails again, email [email protected] with “Filename format – [your name]” in the subject line.

4) PROBLEM: When trying to view my submitted essay, a .txt file is downloaded – not the .pdf file that I submitted. SOLUTION: Delete the essay. Logout of your account; log back in, and resubmit. If resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “File extension problem – [your name]” in the subject line.

5) PROBLEM: When I try to submit, the submission form just reloads without giving me an error message. SOLUTION. Log out of your account. Open a new browser; clear the cache; log back in, and resubmit. If resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “Submission form problem – [your name]” in the subject line.

6) PROBLEM: I receive an “Unexpected Error” when trying to submit. SOLUTION. Logout of your account; log back in, and resubmit. If this resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “Unexpected error – [your name]” in thesubject line. Your email must tell us e xactly where in the submission process you received this error.

7) PROBLEM: I have a problem with submitting and it is not addressed above on this list. SOLUTION: Restart your machine. Clear your browser’s cache. Try to submit again. If this fails, email [email protected] with “Unlisted problem – [your name]” in the subject line. Your email must tell us exactly the nature of your problem with relevant screen caps.

READ THIS BEFORE YOU EMAIL US.

Do not email us before you have tried the specified solutions to your problem.

Do not email us more than once about a single problem. We will respond to your email within 72 hours. Only if you have not heard from us in that time may you contact us again to ask for an update.

If you email us regarding a problem, you must include relevant screen-shots and information on both your operating system and your browser. You must also declare that you have tried the solutions presented above and had a good connection to the internet when you did so.

If you have tried the relevant solution to your problem outlined above, have emailed us, and are still unable to submit before the 30 June deadline on account of any fault of the John Locke Institute or our systems, please do not worry: we will have a way to accept your essay in that case. However, if there is no fault on our side, we will not accept your essay if it is not submitted on time – whatever your reason: we will not make exceptions for IT issues for which we are not responsible.

We reserve the right to disqualify the entries of essayists who do not follow all provided instructions, including those concerning technical matters.

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2022 Essay Prize in Economics

What Contribution can Heterodox Economics Make to Addressing the Climate Emergency?

The Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) and the Cambridge Journal of Economics (CJE) intend to award a prize of EUR 7,000 for the best essay on the theme, ‘What contribution can heterodox economics make to addressing the climate emergency?’ Authors are free to choose their topic and title within this wider theme.

Please read these details carefully before contacting the ISRF or the CJE with a query or submitting your essay for consideration .

Essays are invited which explore the potential contribution of any aspect(s) of heterodox economics, broadly construed, to addressing the climate emergency. Possible sub-topics include:

• Ends. What should be the objectives of climate policy, and action more generally by states, institutions and individuals, in addressing the climate emergency? How should the values at stake be conceptualised? 
• Means. Assuming some clear goals or objectives, how should these be pursued? How should we act in the face of economic, scientific, and political uncertainties?
• Discourses and strategies. In addressing the climate emergency, how are our means and ends best described and framed? Are there tensions between well-justified ends which might emerge from ethical, political economic and scientific analysis, and the means available to us?

Essays could discuss theoretical issues in general terms, or focus on specific problems or practical strategies. 

If the scientific consensus is correct, we only have a few years before serious climate damage becomes irreversible. Therefore contributors who focus on long-term structural transformations of the economy, society, or economics, may also wish to discuss how to think and act given the urgency of the situation. 

The winning essay will be selected from submissions received in the submission window commencing 1st September 2021, closing at midnight on 30th September 2021.

The essay will be judged on its originality and independence of thought, its scholarly quality, its potential to challenge received ideas, and the success with which it matches the criteria of the ISRF and the CJE. The successful essay will be intellectually radical, orthogonal to existing debates, and articulate a strong internal critique across the fields of economic research. Its challenge to received ideas will have the potential to provoke a re-thinking of the topic.

The ISRF is interested in original research ideas that take new approaches and suggest new solutions to real world social problems. The full statement of the ISRF’s criteria and goals may be viewed  here .

The CJE provides a forum for theoretical, applied, interdisciplinary, history of thought and methodological work, with strong emphasis on realistic analysis, the development of critical perspectives, the provision and use of empirical evidence, and the construction of policy. More detail about the Journal can be found on the Journal’s website .

The 2015 ISRF Essay Prize in Economics was awarded to Julie Nelson for her essay Husbandry: a (feminist) reclamation of masculine responsibility for care .

The submitted essays will be judged by an academic panel (the ISRF Essay Prize Committee) and the winner will be decided by unanimous vote. The panel’s decision will be final, and no assessments or comments will be made available. The result will be notified to applicants by email by the end of July 2022 and will then be announced by posting on the websites of  the ISRF and of the CJE. The ISRF and the CJE reserve the right not to award the prize, and no award will be made if the submitted essays are of insufficient merit.

Submissions should be made – within the submission window only – online at: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cje Queries: Telephone +44 (0) 20 7262 0196 or email [email protected]

Essay Competition

 “the ideas of economists… both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood… indeed the world is ruled by little else” ,     j. m. keynes (general theory, 1936), essay competition 2023.

We received over 750 eligible submissions this year, with each one being hand-read and marked by our panellists at the University of Cambridge. Overall, we were thoroughly impressed by the quality of the responses to some of the most challenging questions in the competition’s history. We would like to thank every student that submitted an essay this year, and extend our warmest congratulations to the winners and shortlisted essays named below.

We are delighted to announce that the winner of the 2023 Marshall Society Essay Competition is David Lu of Raffles Institution, Singapore. David’s essay in response to Question 4 deftly balanced advanced economic theories with real-world data, clear explanations, and rhetorical flair, and was a pleasure to read. We look forward to publishing it in the forthcoming issue of The Dismal Scientist , the magazine of the Marshall Society, and awarding our top prize of £50.

In 2nd place is You Peng of Shenzhen College of International Education, China. Peng’s essay in response to Question 2 was theoretically advanced and well structured, and we would’ve liked to see even more real-world application. It will likewise be published and receive a finalist prize of £25.

In 3rd place is Hanyun Qian of Suzhou Foreign Language School, China. Hanyun’s essay in response to Question 5 was extremely original, insightful, and entertaining to read, and we would’ve liked to see an even tighter focus on the question set. It will likewise be published and receive a finalist prize of £25.

Our shortlisted essays, in no particular order, were as follows:

To everyone that took part in the competition, thank you for the time and care spent in preparing your essay, and all the best for your future studies. We hope you’re looking forward to the 2024 edition of the essay competition.

A reminder of the essay questions set this year is as follows:

• In what ways could Artificial Intelligence reshape the labour market? Will it usher in Keynes’ ‘age of leisure’?
• ‘Policymakers can’t exploit the Phillips curve to reduce unemployment due to the Lucas critique.’ Evaluate this statement.
• The US Federal Child Tax Credit is scheduled to revert from $2,000 to $1,000 by 2025. Is this policy a mistake?
• Tensions between the US and China have been steadily increasing. Is it in the US’ interest to decouple from China economically?
• ‘There were no meaningful long-run changes in living standards until the Industrial Revolution.’ Discuss.
• Has Economics run out of big new ideas? If so, what are the implications? If not, justify with an example.

Graders Needed for Essay Competition

The  John Locke Institute  is seeking final-year undergraduate and graduate students who might be interested in becoming graders of our Essay Competition for appropriate remuneration.

The globally renowned John Locke Institute annual essay competition covers topics in the categories of Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Law, Theology, and Psychology. Free to enter, the competition attracts entries from students of 14 to 18 years old from all over the world. Since its launch, it has been growing apace. Last year, we received about 7,400 entries from students with the widest possible range of socioeconomic backgrounds from over 100 countries.

For most participants, the competition provides their first opportunity to research, write and have graded a university-style essay that makes an original argument. The experience motivates many of them to raise their sights to institutions of learning of the highest quality – such as the Ivy League in the USA, and Oxbridge in the UK – that they would otherwise have not considered.

Submitted essays are graded in the first instance by academically talented graduates and final-year undergraduates, before the very best of them are sent to Professors in the relevant disciplines for final marking and the selection of prize-winners.

The three questions in the Economics category for which we are looking for graders are as follows.

Q1 . A government funds its own expenditure by taxing its population. Suppose, instead, it relied solely on money newly created by the central bank? What would be the advantages and/or disadvantages?  

Q2 . In his thought experiment, the Iowa Car Crop, David Friedman tries to show that growing wheat is, in an important sense, just another ‘technology’ we can use for manufacturing cars, and in some circumstances a much more efficient one.

If international trade is thus a way of using less valuable inputs to produce more valuable outputs, why would governments impose trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas, thereby forcing producers to be more wasteful and less efficient?

Q3 . What would happen if we banned billionaires?

The grading work will be intense, interesting and satisfying, and begin on  July 1, to be completed in about two weeks . Graders have flexibility regarding their hours and speed at which they work.

Essays are up to 2000 words long and need only be given a numerical grade. We will pay  $2 per essay  and require a  commitment to grade 500 essays  (or more only if the grader wishes to do more). A grader who has hit his or her stride should be able to make at least $25 an hour.

Further details and examples of previous years’ questions can be viewed on our  website .

Interested final-year undergraduate and graduate students should email  [email protected]  to declare their interest and obtain further details.

1022 International Affairs Building (IAB)

Mail Code 3308

420 West 118th Street

New York, NY 10027

Study with us | Schools liaison | What we do | Events and prizes | Rex Nettleford Essay Prizes: Colonialism and its Legacies

Rex Nettleford Prize for Year 12 Students: Essays on Colonialism and its Legacies

In November 2021, Oriel College inaugurated the Rex Nettleford Essay Prize for year 12 students.

The prize is intended to encourage students to engage with the legacies of colonialism in all its forms – historical, political, economic, social, cultural. Colonialism is a major theme in British history. Its legacies are all around us. By writing an essay for the prize, a student has an opportunity to uncover the enduring influence of colonialism in our society and culture and to address some of the difficult and uncomfortable questions that it poses.

Whilst interest in British colonialism and its legacy provides the specific context for these prizes, colonialism is an activity with a much longer and more geographically diverse extent. Essays can address any relevant aspect, historical phase, cultural manifestation or geographical centre of colonialism, ancient or modern.

The prizes will be awarded on the occasion of an annual lecture also on the topic of ‘Colonialism and its Legacies’, which will take place in Trinity Term (early summer).

The prizes and annual lecture series are dedicated to Oriel alumnus Rex Nettleford, in recognition of his distinguished contributions in the fields of scholarship, culture, and education.

Rex Nettleford

Ralston “Rex” Nettleford (3 February 1933 to 2 February 2010) was an author, academic, dancer, and activist.

Born in Falmouth, Jamaica, Nettleford grew up in the country and graduated with a degree in History from the University of the West Indies. In 1957, he received a Rhodes Scholarship to Oriel College, Oxford and obtained an MPhil in Political Science. He returned to Jamaica in order to take up a position at the University of the West Indies, where he was Vice-Chancellor from 1998 to 2004.

In his academic work, Nettleford focused on issues of cultural identity particularly in the wake of colonialism. He repeatedly stressed “the importance and force of the exercise of the creative intellect and the creative imagination […] in shaping a new and civilised society out of slavery, colonialism and their aftermath, and building democratic nations out of erstwhile colonial fiefdoms’; ‘for the arts are a form of action.”

Rules of the Competition

The Rex Nettleford Prize is an essay competition open to students in Year 12. The prize is £250.

The purpose of the Prize is:

• To promote awareness amongst students in Year 12 of issues relating to colonialism and its legacies.
• To encourage students in Year 12 to develop their abilities for independent research and thought.
• To support teachers of able pupils by providing interesting and challenging further work and by bringing such students into contact with Higher Education.
• To encourage able students to consider applying to study subjects in the Humanities and Social Sciences, either at Oxford or at another university, by giving them experience of the type of work involved.
• To recognise the effort and achievement of the most successful submissions by a prize and commendations.

Note: the judges will not able to provide feedback on submissions.

Assessment Criteria

• Entrants should be in Year 12 (or equivalent) at a UK school or college.
• Students must address a topic that is not directly related to their A level course.
• The judges will look for a clear grasp of issues addressed, clarity in structuring and presentation of the argument, a critical approach to primary and secondary source materials, and originality of thought.

How to Apply

• Essays should be no more than 2,500 words in length and should be on ONE of the given questions below.
• The candidate may answer the question they select from the perspective of any discipline of their choosing (e.g. History, English Literature, Economics, etc.) but they must indicate at the head of their essay which discipline they have chosen.
• Essays should be word processed and submitted to [email protected] . Submissions should be in PDF format and attached as a copy to email. Essays that are submitted as cloud files may not be considered.
• A font size not less than 12pt should be used; page margins should be set to no less than 2.54cm.
• Essays should be accompanied by a bibliography, which does not count towards the word limit.
• Entries must be sent with a completed entry form, which is available to download below.
• Submissions should be accompanied by a signed statement from a teacher that the essay is the student’s original, unaided work and that it does not directly relate to the syllabuses of the A level subjects they are studying.

Essays must be received by 12 midnight on Friday 15 th March 2024.

Prizes will be awarded at Oriel College on the occasion of the Rex Nettleford Lecture during Trinity term 2024.

Questions for the 2024 Competition

Candidates must answer ONE of the following questions. Candidates should feel free to focus their answer in terms of its historical period, geographical centre and cultural range.

• How have ideas about nature shaped the histories and legacies of colonialism?
• What role has education played in the history of colonialism? Discuss in terms of specific educational practices, institutions, or curricula.
• How, if at all, has ancient imperialism influenced modern imperialism?
• Pick an example of popular or vernacular culture (for example, a song, film, sartorial style, novel, poem, dance, dish, meme, etc.) and explain it in relation to the histories of colonialism. How does your chosen example represent, contest, reflect, or otherwise respond to some specific aspect of colonialism?

Discover the 2022 prize winners

Discover the 2022 rex nettleford prize winners, further information, schools liaison and outreach, lloyd davies philosophy prize, about the rex nettleford prizes.

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Young Economist of the Year Competition launches for 2021

• April 29, 2021

This year’s Young Economist of the Year Essay Competition has now launched. The competition is organised by the Royal Economic Society, in partnership with the Financial Times .

RES has made a number of changes to the competition this year to widen the entry criteria. The full details can be found in the  updated rules . The 2021 competition is  open to all year 12 and year 13  (S5 and S6 in Scotland, years 13 and 14 in Northern Ireland) students studying for A-Level, International Baccalaureate (IB) or Scottish Highers qualifications who either  normally reside or are studying in the UK . Students do not need to be studying economics to be able to enter. Entrants to not have to be members of RES.

For the competition , students are asked to write an essay of up to 1,000 words on 1 of 5 given topics. This year the 5 questions are:

• When, if ever, is it a good idea for central banks to set interest rates below zero?
• How is Brexit going to change the economic geography of the UK?
• Will the legacy of COVID be an economically more unequal world?
• Technological change means that the wage gap between the skilled and unskilled will simply keep growing. Do you agree with this assessment?
• We will fail to address climate change because Covid-19 showed we are unable to muster a concerted global response to common crises. Do you agree?

A guidance note on essay writing is available here .

The competition has five prizes, with 1 awarded for the best overall essay and a further 5 for the best essays within each category. The overall winner will receive a prize of £1,000. The winner will also have the opportunity for their essay to be published in the FT. The best essay on each of the 5 questions will receive a prize of £200.

A poster for the competition can be downloaded Young-Economist-of-the-Year-Essay-Competition-2021 . The competition will close at  23.59 on 25 July 2021 .

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Entering Competitions

It is a great idea to enter a competition in an area that you enjoy or are good at whilst at school. If you win or are placed this is excellent, but even if you don’t it demonstrates commitment, interest, drive and immediately differentiates you from others. It also looks good on your UCAS form.

Here is an overview of the mandatory subjects required for different university courses:

• Bank Of England Target Two Point Zero (in conjunction with The Times)
• The Marshall Society (Cambridge University Economic Society) essay/article competition
• Young Economist of the Year (Royal Economic Society) 16-18 years
• Christopher Tower Poetry Competition (run by Christchurch College Oxford). 16-18 year olds
• Fitzwilliam College Cambridge Annual Essay Competition (different subject each year)
• Royal Commonwealth essay competition (under 18)
• Connell Guides Essay Prize (open to all sixth formers)
• Classics and Ancient History essay competition (run by St John’s College Oxford). Open to year 12 students.
• Young Geographer of the Year (Royal Geographical society) 16-18 years
• St Hilda’s (Oxford) History Essay Prize. Open to Year 12 students
• Girton College (Cambridge) Humanities Writing Competition for lower sixth form students
• Hans Woyda Maths Competition
• National Cipher Challenge (organised by University of Southampton).
• UKMT Maths Challenge
• French Film Competition (Oxford University). Open to students in years 10-13.
• Guardian Student Media awards
• London School of Journalism creative writing competition
• The Wellcome Trust Science writing Prize in conjunction with The Guardian and The Observer
• Edgar Jones Philosophy Essay Competition (St Peter’s College Oxford) open to year 12 students.
• Lloyd Davis Philosophy Prize (run by Oriel College Oxford). Year 12 students
• C3L6 competition (Cambridge Chemistry Challenge)
• Royal Society of Chemistry, Bill Bryson Prize
• Royal Society of Chemistry Analyst Competition (first year sixth formers studying chemistry)
• Royal Society of Chemistry Top of the Bench competition
• RSC Chemistry Olympiad
• Schools Science Prize (Biochemistry and chemistry). Run by Corpus Christi College Oxford. Open to year 11 and 12 students
• British Biology Olympiad run by the Society of Biology.
• Cascades Of Particle Physics (run by Birmingham University for A ‘level and GCSE students)
• British Science Association Crest award
• National Science and engineering competition: UK scientist of the year and UK engineer of the year. (11-18 year olds).
• The Big Science Challenge (11-16 year olds) with Rolls Royce & the British Council
• UK Space Design Competition (years 9-13)
• Annual Sixth Form Medical Writing Prize – run by Elite Academic Medical
• Psychology AS Level Essay Competition. (University of Cambridge Department of Social and Developmental Psychology)
• Schools Debating Competition (various locations)
• ESC Schools Mace competition (debating).
• International Competition for Young Debaters (under 15)
• DHL innovation award
• Benedictus: a liberal arts college offers a competition for 16-19 year olds. You can write on any subject but must connect to their forum theme

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