The Global Association of Economics Education (GAEE) is pleased to announce the winners of our “2020 Business Economics & Information Technology Essay Contest” hosted in partnership with the KSO from the University of Chicago. The competition was honored to have the support from Professor Jin K Han from Singapore Management University and Dr. Diego Soto from the World Bank Group‘s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency in providing the thought-provoking essay prompts for our contestants.

For this year’s competition, participants were limited to high school students residing in and/or having South Korea citizenship. Students were asked to write an essay within the 1500-word limit on one of these topics:

  1. The digital revolution (i.e., the rise of e-commerce, mobile usage, big data) is giving rise to new forms of businesses (e.g., Amazon, Airbnb, Uber) that often rewrite the rules of the industry. To compete effectively with innovative new entrants, what strategies should the traditional businesses pursue?
  2. What do you see as being the biggest obstacle in the role technology plays in society today? What solutions do you think are most promising, and why? Thinking ahead, as we continue to transition into a world of massive disruption in employment and social mobilization, how can the government integrate technology to address the future need younger generations will have for new forms of social protection? How can we ensure that new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence are developed and implemented in an inclusive way, thereby not reinforcing economic, gender, and racial discrimination?

We are excited to receive well-qualified responses from high school students across the country. Thank you to everyone who submitted your entries.

  • First place: Juhyun Lee from North London Collegiate School (senior)
  • Second place: Jihoo Shin from Branksome Hall Asia (senior)
  • Third place: Jubin Heo from The Newman School (Senior)

Abstracts of our winners can be found here.