Essay Contest for Undergraduate Students
The results of the 2016 US presidential elections came as an enormous surprise to politicians, pollsters and ordinary citizens the world over. Even Trump himself was stunned by his history-making victory. The situation presents a unique window of opportunities for all scholars—even beginning students of economics.
As the Trump presidency begins to take shape, the US is engulfed in protests and rallies, both against and in support of the president-elect, who is busy making appointments for his cabinet.
The International Office at the Faculty of Economic Sciences of HSE Moscow offers the undergraduate students an essay contest:
The 2016 US Presidential Elections:
An Economist's Outlook
Deadline for submission: 20 January, 18-00 Moscow time. Submit your essay via email interecon@hse.ru
Maximum length: about 5 pages A4, max. 9000 characters (all characters count, including spaces). Reference section, illustrations, graphs and tables should be moved to the appendices section.
First page should have: Author’s name, title of the essay and essays executive summary. You can make it one page summary, or just a para, but every essay should have a summary section (call it abstract).
You can choose any essay topic that you find relevant, not limited to the following examples:
- Compare Trump’s and Clinton’s economic programs
- What would a wall with Mexico mean for the US economy?
- Should the new president impose tariffs on Chinese goods?
- How to improve Obamacare
- Students loans or free public education?
- Why the polls failed
- Technology vs. globalization and job losses
- Сlimate change/energy policy and its economic impacts: Would the US pulling out of the Paris Treaty begin a trade war? What would it mean for China?
- And so on.
The essay should be your original work (no plagiarism) and contain your ideas on the issue, from the point of view of economics, statistics, finance, or related fields. You can form a research team of 2 people at most. If you are chosen as the winner, be ready to explain the exact contribution of each team member to the project.
Benefits for all participants:
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You will spend time on working on an important economic issue
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You will get practice writing essays
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You will have something to do during the winter break, while you're missing your classes
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If you are worried about the results of the election, preparing for the essay will help you minimize the stress*. If you are not interested, you’ll still learn more about current economic issues that may affect the future.
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You will have a chance to actually follow up on your critiques or advice in the near future, a rare opportunity for any scholar gets in their lives.
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If your advice or conclusion is wrong, nobody will suffer from it.
THE WINNER GETS:
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Two free individual consultations on how to improve your writing skills (on this essay or on any written piece in English)
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Other prizes are on the way (but we won't tell at the moment!)