International finals of the Economics Olympiad in Budapest

After two pandemic years, we have once again managed to prepare, in cooperation with foreign partners, an in-person international round of the Economics Olympiad. The event was organised by the Czech Institute of Economic Education (INEV), in cooperation with the Hungarian Economic Association and with support from the Visegrad Fund.

On 6 - 9 September, representatives of the brightest young economists from six countries - Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Greece and Bosnia and Herzegovina - gathered in Budapest. Representatives from China also participated remotely. A total of 35 competitors measured their economic knowledge in a written test. In the tasks they had to analyse e.g. the profitability of an investment, the impact of an oil import ban or the imposition of a price ceiling. The finalists who did best in the written test then went on to the oral round. The members of the jury in the oral round were economists from the V4 countries and representatives of economic associations in each country: Gyula Pleschinger from Hungary, Lukas Hardt from Poland, Eduard Baumöhl from Slovakia and Daniel Němec from the Czech Republic.

Slovakia was represented by five competitors: Martin Kips from the Gymnasium on Grösslingova Street in Bratislava, David Guľaš from LEAF Academy in Bratislava, Matej Sova from the Gymnasium on Teplická street in Bratislava, Michal Kyselica from the Gymnasium on Školská Street in Dubnica nad Váhom and Samuel Jurčišin from the Gymnasium Jura Hronca in Bratislava, accompanied by the director of the Olympiad in Slovakia Monika Budzák and Ina Sečíková from INESS. David Guľaš fought his way from the written to the oral round and took 7th place overall. In competition with the most talented competitors from seven countries, Slovak students did very well. You can check the overall ranking here. In total, more than 38 000 high school students in all partner countries participated in the Economics Olympiad in the school year 2021/2022, with 11 300 students in Slovakia alone. In addition to the testing, there was an accompanying programme for the competitors in the form of a lecture by Daniel Houska from the University of Economics in Prague on the causes and consequences of inflation, as well as a guided tour at the newly opened Money Museum in Budapest.

The 6th year of the Economics Olympiad in Slovakia is open, teachers can register their school for free at ekonomickaolympiada.sk. If you would like to organize the Economics Olympiad in your country, please do not hesitate to contact us for more details or visit https://www.economicsolympiad.com/.