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Warwick Economic team win first place at Grand Economic Debate

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Warwick Economic team win first place at Grand Economic Debate

The Department of Economics is delighted to announce that a team from the University of Warwick took first place at the Grand Economics Debate of the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Hosted by OXERA Consulting in central London, a total of 8 universities competed in the competition, representing many of the top universities in the country including Oxford, Cambridge, LSE and UCL. With two intense debates on the way to the Grand Final and the standard higher than ever, this is a remarkable achievement for Economics at Warwick and reaffirms its leading position in the country.

Hannah Collins (BSc Economics, Politics and International Studies), Joseph Kellen (MSc Behavioural and Economic Science) and Simon Cremer (BSc Philosophy, Politics and Economics) performed exceptionally well, presenting their persuasive arguments on the topics including the digital strategy of Facebook, Amazon and Google as well as the value of an independent national monetary policy. The team was greatly supported by Ashish Ramuni (BSc Philosophy, Politics and Economics) who provided valuable assistance in the quarter and semi-finals.

Articulate, persuasive and confident, Hannah, Joseph and Simon impressed both the audience and judges with their maturity and conviction. The judges included Dr Steve Davies, Head of Education at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr. Helen Jenkins, Managing Director at OXERA Consulting, Mr John Ferguson, Global Forecasting Director at The Economist Intelligence Unit and Dr Jamie Whyte, Director of Research at the Institute of Economics affairs. The prize for the title was an internship at the Institute of Economic Affairs, a fast track for the prestigious summer internship offered by OXERA consulting and a cash prize.

The Department is delighted with the students’ achievements, especially given the interdisciplinary nature of the degrees they are enrolled in. This highlights the distinctively technical and in-depth knowledge that our students gain from studying Degree Courses on any programme within the Department of Economics at Warwick. Teams from most other competitors were pure Economics students and so Hannah, Joseph and Simon should be very proud of this fantastic achievement.