Simar WIns Top Economics Competition

Congratulations to Simar Hare who has won the inaugural North West Economic Horizon competition for Year 12 students!

The ‘Economic Horizon’ competition is an opportunity for Year 12 Economics students in the North West of England to have a go at trying to identify, anticipate and neutralise oncoming economic threats; the same thing economists are paid to do by finance ministries and central banks across the world.

Four NW Schools made it to the finals: Withington Girls’ Grammar, The Grange, Cheadle Hulme School, Birkenhead School. Simar's victory was all the more impressive by the fact that she did it entirely on her own, whereas other entrants did it in teams and of course that she did it in lockdown conditions, remotely from her peers and her teachers. A special thanks go to Mr Humphries who helped Simar with her entry.

The Head Judge was Nic Macpherson who served as the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury from 2005 to 2016. He was Permanent Secretary to three Chancellors. He described Simar's entry as a ‘tour de force’.

Simar had this to say 'It’s a great pleasure to have won the Economic horizon competition. I really enjoyed putting together a presentation that explored the current UK situation in the context of the pandemic. I researched how other countries have responded to the crisis and how the UK has dealt with economic shocks in the past to help me come up with my own policy ideas, some of which addressed environmental issues and income inequality as well as a successful recovery for the economy.'