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This month’s edition of the Econobethan, entitled Halfway to Tomorrow, looks both backwards and forwards.

QE’s student-run Economics journal reflects in its first section on the profound changes of the past five years, looking especially at the lasting impact of the pandemic.

In its later pages, the focus shifts to the future – although not without exploring the current moment in global affairs: there is extensive coverage of the impact of US President Donald Trump’s economic actions since he took office.

Economics teacher Celia Wallace said: “The students have outdone themselves with this 22nd edition, which is a thought-provoking exploration of the economic, social, and political transformations shaping our world in 2025 and beyond.”

The 36-page publication features 20 articles from boys in the senior years. The contributors, all drawn from Year 10 and above, include the editorial team, which comprises four Year 12 A-level economists: Zain Ahmed; Shourya Garg; Adithya Raghuraman; and Shuban Singh.

In their introduction, the team draw attention to how the global economy has changed since the pandemic – “a world reshaped by necessity”.

As to the future, it is “exciting yet unnerving”. They highlight the challenges presented by a “global duality”, with “the promise of growth-driving technological advancement through global cooperation standing in stark contrast to rising nationalist protectionism.

“As you delve into these pages, the editorial team encourages you – the readers – to ponder on the ideas you’re introduced to. Beyond merely predicting our collective future, some of these voices may help shape it,” the four editors conclude.

The first section of the Econobethan examines shifts in consumer behaviour, supply chain disruptions, and evolving labour markets. It offers a nuanced analysis of how different industries have adapted – some thriving, while others continue to navigate post-pandemic uncertainty.

The articles include:

• The COVID-19 Recovery: A Flop? by Adam Liang, Year 12
• The Israel-Hamas Conflict by Jasmaan Sahota, Year 11
• The Rise of Remote Working by Advay Bhat, Year 11.

The second section assesses the economic implications of current geopolitical events and covers topics such as nuclear risks, potential trade wars, technological growth, and sustainability challenges.

Here is a sample of the titles of the 12 articles in this section:

• Slowbalisation: The Advent of a New Trade War by Vu-Lam Le-Nguyen, Year 11
• The Political and Economic Impact of Refugees by Muhamad Mohamed, Year 12
• The Future of Growth: Tech by 2030 by Daksh Vinnakota, Year 12.

Those with access to the School’s eQE portal can read the Econobethan here.

Final-year pupil Avi Juneja was invited to the Foreign Office after winning a prestigious essay competition, beating off competition from 600 other entrants.

Avi triumphed in the Next Generation Essay Economics competition – run by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – with his submission focusing on debt payments by developing countries.

It was Avi’s second major competition win of the year: in the spring, an essay he wrote on the gig economy took overall first prize in a competition organised by Northeastern University London.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My sincere congratulations go once again to Avi, who researched and wrote his essay in his own time on a topic which intrigued him – he thus embodies very well the spirit of academic curiosity and free-thinking scholarship that we seek to nurture at QE.”

The Next Generation competition was open to any UK school pupils. Entrants had to pick one of four questions, all of which looked at major economic challenges facing their generation.

Avi selected this question: According to the UN, 3.3 billion people now live in countries where debt interest payments are greater than expenditure on health or education. What actions could governments globally take to ensure debt does not prevent investment towards development?

“One reason that I chose this question over the others is that I had read a book called Austerity written in 2013, which mentioned how Greece suffered from the sovereign debt crisis,” he said.

“Having read that Greece had won the Economist’s best performing economy of the year in 2023, I wanted to bridge the gap and see what could be done to transform a nation so significantly.

“Leading on from that, I was keen to understand more about the esoteric topics of bond markets and debt instruments, as they have such tangible effects for citizens in an economy.

Avi, who is currently applying to read Economics at Cambridge, said that his research for the essay was much longer than that for previous competitions. “It took a while to grasp a lot of the complex ideas like bond premiums, payoff structures and cyclicality of demand for bonds: I think it was a week where I researched for the essay in my free time, letting the sources take me down rabbit holes before I eventually felt I understood enough to write it.

“I advocated for the use of State-Contingent Debt Instruments* and more stringent transparency requirements to alleviate the pressures of high debt interest payments faced by many nations.”

The actual writing took a few hours in his local library.

During his visit to the historic building in Whitehall, Avi met both the FCDO’s Chief Economist, Adnan Qadir Khan, and Deputy Chief Economist, Fergus Cumming, and discussed with them what he had written. Also there were the competition’s runners-up and shortlisted entries. Professor Khan said Avi’s success was “a fantastic achievement, considering we had 600 entries this year!”

Avi added: “The Foreign Office is incredibly grand and ornate, so I feel very fortunate to have seen it. There was also a cash prize of £500, which is always nice.”

*State-Contingent Debt Instruments (SCDIs) are instruments that link a sovereign state’s debt service payments to its capacity to pay, with that capacity linked to real-world variables or events.

The focus is firmly on financial crime in the latest issue of The Econobethan, which takes a detailed look at the misuse of money around the world.

Over 28 pages, the student writers look at crime-related topics ranging from a profile of Jordan Belfort, the ‘wolf of Wall Street’, to the rising use of AI-generated ‘deep fakes’ for fraud.

The 20^th edition of The Econobethan also has, as a secondary theme, Economics and Black history, and is timed to coincide with the conclusion of Black History Month.

Economics teacher and QE Flourish Enrichment tutor Celia Wallace said: “Through The Econobethan, we aim to bring complex economic concepts to life, and to foster thoughtful discussion and an inclusive approach to economic issues.

“This issue takes a compelling dive into the world of financial crime, offering nuanced perspectives on how misconduct – from fraud and cybercrime to insider trading – continues to shape our global economic landscape.”

Congratulating the 16 writers, Dr Wallace said: “Many of them balanced writing for this edition with exam preparation and university applications – a testament to their commitment and passion. This issue also marks the final edition from our current editorial team, who have worked tirelessly to bring these important topics to life. We’re excited to see the fresh ideas the incoming team will bring to future editions.”

In their own introduction, the four-strong editorial team, Year 13’s Uday Dash, Akheel Kale, Zaki Mustafa and Tejas Bansal write of the “chilling insight” the edition gives into how financial systems can be manipulated, adding: “In the end, these articles remind us perhaps the biggest criminals are the ones that are hiding in plain sight.”

The articles have an international flavour, covering Operation Tabernula – Britain’s biggest insider-trading scandal – as well as public corruption in the US, and money-laundering in Pakistan.

There are historical perspectives – on tax evasion, for example, and on the 2008 global financial crisis – as well as exploration of the likely future impact of technology in areas such as cryptocurrency. Pictured top is Kareem Serageldin, the only banker to be jailed following the events of 2008.

The edition’s tribute to Black economists includes a profile of Sadie Alexander, who in 1921 became the first African-American woman in the US to earn a PhD (in Economics) from an American university. Thwarted in her ambition to become an Economics professor, she went on to become a lawyer and civil rights activist. A more contemporary influential Black economist, William Darity, a professor at North Carolina’s Duke University, is the subject of another profile.

• Those with access to the eQE portal can read the current and previous editions of The Econobethan here.

Both QE teams have qualified for the final, global round of the World Economics Cup – with ‘Team 2’ coming first and  ‘Team 1’ second in Europe.

Their success in the continental round and, before that, at the national round, comes in the first year that QE boys have entered the competition.

The boys, now in Year 13, found the opportunity themselves and entered on their own initiative, with the School then supporting them by negotiating down the cost of entry, given QE’s status as a state school.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “The results, announced recently, reveal the quite remarkable success of our young economists: this is a huge achievement. I offer my congratulations to both teams. They should be especially commended on their dedication: with their continental round taking place during the summer holidays, the boys had to collaborate digitally, and that involved lots of Zoom calls, one reportedly going on until 2am!”

“We wish them all the best for the final round, which takes place in a few days’ time.”

The boys’ successful ‘cup run’ began last term when the two teams both won gold awards in the UK round. In fact all 12 boys achieved ‘highest distinction’ individual awards, while four team members, Avi Juneja, Saim Khan, Rohan Varia and Uday Dash, were also national ‘top 10 scorers’.

In each round of the competition, entrants have to tackle three modules, entitled Fundamentals, Deep Comprehension and Thinking & Innovation. Teams from 47 countries competed in this year’s World Economics Cup. There were five continental rounds, including the European one.

Modules 1 and 2 each have around 100 questions that every person on the team has to answer. The team score was the aggregated average – which meant there could be no ‘weak links’ among the six-strong teams.

The deep comprehension round also introduces case studies, alongside data and university-style lectures, to test how participants understand, interpret and analyse new information.

Team 2’s Saim Khan said: “The deep-thinking segment gave me a new appreciation for the depth of consideration that must be given from all angles when it comes to economic policy-making and implementing.”

Module 3 is fully collaborative and involves delivering a 15-minute video presentation, identifying problems and solutions based upon a brief. The brief is the same for all teams, but only released the day before the submission deadline – so competitors have no more than 24 hours to respond. In the continental round, the module revolved around a healthcare company that planned to introduce AI and robots into the workforce.

For Andreas Angelopoulos, of Team 2, this was a highlight: “I particularly enjoyed collaborating with my teammates on our solution to the Thinking & Innovation portion of the European round, in which we proposed a framework that ‘MediTech Innovations’ could use to implement AI into the workforce ecosystem.”

For his part, Team 1 member Ishtarth Katageri relished the sheer challenge of this module: “Collaborating with my team mates when we had a day to respond was difficult, especially with some team members in different countries at the time.”

Team 2’s Uday Dash reflected on the event so far: “Being able to refine my problem-solving skills in the context of an international economics competition is a unique thrill that I am incredibly appreciative of!”

And Uday’s teammate, Zaki Mustafa, expressed a similar view: “The competition has been a great opportunity to apply our economics knowledge practically, in areas such as ‘fintech’ and cryptocurrency mining. I’m really proud to have reached the finals with a great team.”

Tejas Bansal added: “Participating in the World Economics Cup has been an amazing experience for us – coming first in the European round was a huge achievement, and I found the presentation part especially rewarding. We look forward to the final round!”

Team 1
Kush Mandan
Avi Juneja
Shrey Tater
Hari Kumarappan
Shreyaas Sandeep
Ishtarth Katageri

Team 2
Saim Khan
Rohan Varia
Uday Dash
Zaki Mustafa
Andreas Angelopoulos
Tejas Bansal

• Most of the QE competitors are pictured above, with members of both teams at the top, then Team 2, then Team 1.

Old Elizabethan academic and economist Sandeep Mazumder queried the Bank of England’s 2% inflation target and suggested it should be higher – not because it is too cautious, but paradoxically because it is too risky.

Sandeep (OE 1993–2000), who is Dean of Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University, Texas, spoke to the group of Year 12 economists before yesterday’s news that the inflation rate had fallen to 2.3%.

Although this is its lowest level in almost three years, the figure was still higher than expected. Political commentators believe that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called the early General Election on the strength of the apparently improving economic outlook.

Dean Sandeep, who has published widely on inflation dynamics and the Great Recession of 2007–2009, argued that inflation at 2% would limit the Government’s room for manoeuvre in cutting interest rates during times of economic difficulty, making it hard to escape a recession.

He argued instead for adopting a 3 or 4% target, which would give more flexibility with interest rate cuts, without the risk of inflation dropping to 0%. This is the level below which rates cannot be cut (the ‘zero lower bound’) without the potentially disastrous economic risk of people hoarding cash, rather than saving it in banks, the so-called ‘liquidity trap’.

Economics teacher Celia Wallace thanked Dean Sandeep, who spoke remotely to the School’s Gresham Society for Economics. He is a member of QE’s 450 Club member and has been very supportive of the Economics department.

“Sandeep introduced several new concepts to improve pupils’ depth of understanding, including the Fisher Equation to calculate real interest rates and the problem of the zero lower bound, which was the main basis of his talk.

“Within his critique of inflation targeting, Sandeep showed other policy options which countries can often consider, including price-level targeting – where a specific price index is targeted, rather than a growth rate.”

Afterwards, the sixth-formers asked a range of questions, including Avi Juneja’s cautious query about the issue of real wage cuts with a target of 3% or 4% inflation, and Abyan Shah asking about which method of targeting would be most effective for the UK: inflation targeting, price-level targeting, or average inflation targeting (a hybrid of both systems).

Sandeep gave plentiful career advice to all. He strongly expressed the need to follow one’s strengths and passions. He said he had chosen to go into academia and research as it was his passion, while also giving more of a life balance compared to other options, such as  banking.

Year 12 economists seized the chance to meet Nobel laureate Claudia Goldin – only a short time after writing an essay about her work.

Hers was one of three lectures given by Nobel prize-winning economists at the LSE within the space of just one week. The sixth-formers attended of their own volition.

Economics teacher Celia Wallace said: “Claudia Goldin’s work on women in the workplace over the centuries has been hugely important, and the boys have enjoyed learning about it.

“I know it was a real thrill for them to be able to hear her lecture, ask her questions and then meet her. They also enjoyed hearing from her fellow Nobel laureate, Esther Duflo, on the same evening, while two of the group attended a lecture by yet another Nobel prizewinner, Joseph Stiglitz, earlier in the week.”

Claudia Goldin, who won her Economic Sciences Nobel prize in October 2023, delivered a lecture entitled Why women won.

Looking particularly at how women’s rights have evolved in the US, she explained how discrimination actually increased during the early decades of the 20th century, as legislation protecting women from certain hazards in the workplace led to women being seen as inferior to men. With women expected to focus on family life, regulation increased, preventing them from working longer hours and earning more pay, and also denying them jo bs, with posts instead reserved for men.

The turning point came in the 1960s and early 1970s, she said. The Civil Rights Movement catalysed protests and a female push for power, leading to legislative change.

One of the boys, Dheeraj Karnati, then put to her a key question that was also in the minds of his fellow QE economists: what was the reaction to the new laws, and how did society feel about women having an equal role with men in the workplace? In response, she noted that many traditionally minded women were against the changes, even more so than men, and openly opposed the women’s movement.

Meeting Claudia Goldin was a real highlight for Shrey Tater, who described her talk as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear a Nobel prizewinner speak – particularly one who is, like Esther Duflo, a woman breaking down barriers in Economics”.

Esther Duflo’s lecture, the second of the evening, focused again on inequality, this time looking at the climate. The 2019 joint Economic Sciences Nobel prizewinner spoke about inequality between emitters, quoting French economist Lucas Chancel’s finding that 10% of the highest polluters worldwide are responsible for 50% of global emissions. Poorer countries also tend to be unequally affected by climate change as they are mostly in warmer places.

When highlighting the ‘mortality cost’ of global environmental damage – amounting to $518 billion in poor countries – she emphasised the necessity of the world committing to mechanisms to cover this sum. Such mechanisms included increasing the existing 15% tax on multinational corporations and an international wealth tax of 2% levied on the 3,000 richest people in the world.

In addition to Dheeraj and Shrey, those attending the lectures included Sushant Aryal, Zain Farooqi, Abyan Shah, Andreas Angelopolous, Vaibhav Gaddi and Rohan Varia.

Vaibhav and Rohan also attended the lecture by Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Economic Sciences Nobel Prize and a former World Bank chief economist. Afterwards, they stressed how important it was for them to hear experts in the field speak and thus to develop their knowledge of Economics and the world around them.