FCDO Next Generation Economics 2026 competition

The FCDO Next Generation Economics Competition is unusual because it places school students inside the kind of policy conversation that the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office deals with every day. The FCDO coordinates the UK’s diplomatic relationships, promotes UK interests abroad and manages the overseas development budget; its economists examine questions such as climate commitments, global poverty and how public money can produce meaningful change. The competition is managed with the Hub for Equal Representation at the London School of Economics and Political Science, giving it a direct connection to both government policy and academic economics. Students aged 14–18 studying in the UK, including eligible home-educated students and students at British international schools, are invited to write about a major economic challenge facing their generation. Importantly, entrants do not need to have studied economics. The competition welcomes evidence and perspectives from geography, history, politics and other subjects because real policy problems do not arrive separated into school-subject boxes. The value of the format lies in its audience. Students are not writing a generic essay about “the economy”; they are being asked to make a case about a concrete issue, weigh trade-offs and explain why a proposed response might work. That makes research quality and policy judgement more important than using technical vocabulary. A strong entry should identify who gains, who bears the cost, what assumptions are being made and what evidence would change the conclusion. We rate the FCDO Next Generation Economics Competition at Intermediate Level. The policy context is serious, but the competition is deliberately open to students who have not formally studied economics, and there is no specialist Olympiad-style qualifying route. It is especially suitable for students interested in economics, international development, climate policy, politics, geography or public service, including those who want to test an interest through a real policy question rather than a textbook exercise.