Find out about past competitions running in the UCL Department of Economics.
The Econ Games 2022 | First Year Challenge
The Econ Games 2022
UCL Team B were awarded first place at The Econ Games 2022 Virtual Conference. This year’s event was co-organised and hosted by CTaLE, and the World Data Lab (WDL).
UCL Economics Students win The Econ Games: Read the CTaLE blog >>

UCL Team B, winners of The Econ Games 2022
Winner - UCL B
Presentation: 'A Glance into the Future: 3 Developing Economies with the Most Potential in 2030 and its Welfare Implications'. The team members:
- Kexin Wu
- Xiaotian Tian
- Kuangjie Ni
- Kaicheng Lu
Second Runner-up - UCL C
Presentation title: 'Top Emerging Marketing by 2030 and the Potential Impact on Human Health In Rising Economies'. The team members:
- Luca Montagna Carturan
- Jamie Yuen
- Jia Ong
- Ziyi Yap
- Shanker Velu
2022 Winners
The economics behind my behaviour as a Pret subscriber
by Khushi Kakrania

While earlier I made 2-3 cups of coffee on a pan, now I consume a larger quantity due to less effort in getting barista-made coffee from a Pret in almost every street in London. I am happier because I get utility not only from my consumption but also from a positive departure from my reference point.
Hence, being a time consistent economics student, I pay an immediate high cost to maximize intertemporal benefits minus costs over long time. This convenient arrangement is very likely to continue as subscription renewal is the default.
Afterglow
by Jiaxin Shi (Carol)

One obvious element I notice about this picture is transportation. Two ways of travelling are shown: walking and sailing. The development in transportation suggests a high degree of geographical mobility, and hence it boosts commercial transactions and chances of employment.
Another topic here is ‘inequality’. In the bottom of the picture, a couple were pacing home with cows. Here, women can stand together and work with men, which means that gender inequality is relatively eradicated.
But on the other side of the water stood the palaces. The bottom right shows the small houses for citizens. This suggests both the categorial inequality between royalty and ordinary citizenship, and the possible incoming intergenerational inequality of their offspring.
Reducing Poverty by Alleviating Asymmetric Information
by Kexin Wu

However, excessive promotion of this new marketing strategy and poorly designed regulations can cause some low-quality products to overly advertise themselves through live shows and pretend to be high-quality, which may deteriorate the market efficiency.
The First Year Challenge is a multimedia assignment designed to introduce first year undergraduates to independent research and to academic collaboration. Small groups of students are assigned to specific locations in Central London. In their groups they are asked to produce a 3 minute multimedia clip which relates to their meeting point. The motivation behind the First Year Challenge is to introduce students to research-based education as a prelude to the empirically-focused education they would receive in their first year in the economics department. We also want to create bonding opportunities among our large (~600 students) cohorts which included students from around the world and across the UK, and to highlight the diverse skills that this varied study body brings to the table.
Watch the video below to find out more about the First Year Challenge.