Winners of the II International Economics Olympiad Announced

On July 31, the II International Economics Olympiad (IEO) for high school students came to a close in Saint Petersburg. In the team competition, the Brazilian team won the gold medal, while teams from China won silver and bronze. A team from Russia placed fifth.

'The educational systems in Brazil and China are different, yet all the participants competed on equal terms and took pleasure in the intellectual aspect of the Olympiad,' says Danil Fedorovykh, lecturer of HSE’s International College of Economics and Finance and president of the Olympiad. 

Despite the fact that economics is not a "standard" discipline at school, national Olympiads in the winning countries attract thousands of students, which attests to the interest of young people in our subject

'The winning teams managed to show good results in all parts of the Olympiad, that is, they proved their knowledge of economics and the ability to make reasonable financial decisions and collaborate with their team members on business case solving,' adds Danil Fedorovykh.

One team from Russia placed fifth in the team competition, and all members of the team received medals in the individual competition (2 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze). Anastasia Nebolsina from Kaliningrad and Semyon Morozov from Moscow were awarded the highest awards. The second Russian team won two bronze medals.

The grand champion in the individual competition in terms of the final score was Andrew Pei from China. He scored 172.5 points out of 200. Guilhermo Cutrim Costa of Brazil took second place, while Maximillian Surveyor from New Zealand came in third.

According to Danil Fedorovykh, thanks to IEO, national economics Olympiads have already appeared in 11 countries, and this number promises to grow. ‘We try to bring people from all over the world closer together, and foster unity in students as they come to know and understand economic, financial and business concepts,’ said the IEO president.

The awards ceremony was held in the Kochubey-Centre, a unique architectural structure dating to the beginning of the twentieth century. The proceedings were led by Yang Fan Yun, 2018 IEO gold medalist of the individual competition and member of the bronze-winning New Zealand team. This year, Yang Fan Yun scored in the top 0.3% in his home country on his graduation exams in 5 subjects. He came to IEO 2019 as a team leader, and this fall he will begin his studies at Stanford University.

The II International Economics Olympiad for high school students was held from July 24-31 in St. Petersburg. The competition aims to get students all over the world interested in economics and entrepreneurship, develop their skills in finance, and improve the quality of economic and financial education at the secondary level.

Competing in the academic competition were 29 teams of high school students from 24 countries: Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Ghana, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Spain, Kazakhstan, China, Latvia, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, the UAE, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Romania, the USA, Uzbekistan, Switzerland, and South Korea. Students competed in three rounds, each with its own theme: financial literacy, economics, and business case solution.

Nobel Laureate in Economics, Eric Maskin, serves as the chairman of the board of trustees of the Olympiad. The executive committee of the Olympiad includes representatives of 10 countries. The participants' performances were evaluated by jury members from universities in Spain, the USA, Austria, Russia, and Latvia.

Initiated by HSE University, the International Economics Olympiad for high school students was held for the first time in Moscow in 2018. It is the only event of its kind in the world. In 2020, the competition will be held in Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan.

For the second year in a row, the competition’s general sponsor was PJSC Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe. Sberbank sponsors sports and charity events in various regions of Russia, as well as educational projects, including financial literacy development projects.