Category: competition

Thrive or dive: can our economy weather the climate crisis?

Marco Minasi-Smith, Fortismere School, London

Marco Minasi-Smith, from Fortismere School, London, is the runner-up of the third Bank of England/Financial Times schools blog competition. The competition invited students across the UK to write a post on the theme: the economy and climate change.

While Australia mourns the human and ecological cost of its ‘black summer’ of fires, the tragedy poses a question for economic policy-makers everywhere: how do we prevent climate crises becoming economic ones?

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Currency will be no longer determined by those in power

Estelle McCool

Estelle McCool, from King’s College London Maths School, is the winner of the second Bank of England/Financial Times schools blog competition. The competition invited students across the UK to address the question “What is the future of money?”

Our world today is dominated by globalisation. We’ve been trading globally since before the Vikings left Scandinavia, yet the face of world trade has been altered by technological revolution and the removal of economic barriers. A global currency seems the next logical step in international integration. But what would provide the prototype of this new money?

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A nearly worthless currency ignites imaginations

Sofia Comper-Cavanna

Sofia Comper-Cavanna, from Burgess Hill Girls School, is a runner-up of the second Bank of England/Financial Times schools blog competition. The competition invited students across the UK to address the question “What is the future of money?”

The Venezuelan bolívar is practically worthless. When money has become so far devalued that the quantity of paper notes used to purchase toilet rolls is more than the quantity of paper you buy, is there any way for society to find a purpose for money again?

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Bank of England and Financial Times schools blogging competition: And the winner is…

Estelle McCool from King’s College London Maths School, whose post, “Currency will be no longer determined by those in power”, is published today on Bank Underground and the FT.

We had more than 200 entries from schools all over the UK, focused on the question “What is the future of money?”. The final selection of a winner and two runners up was made by our panel of judges: Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, Chris Giles, Economics Editor of the Financial Times and Sarah John, Chief Cashier and Director of Notes of the Bank of England. They were impressed by the quality and breadth of the entries, and had a tough time making their final decision. The three posts they selected spanned a range of different issues, including the growth of electronic money as a payment mechanism in Africa, the behavioural and psychological aspects of spending decisions and even the very nature and value of money itself. After careful deliberation and much discussion they selected “Currency will be no longer determined by those in power” as the overall winner, praising the engaging writing, insightful analysis and use of developing economies experiences with new types of currency to inform the global debate on the future of money.

We are also publishing the two posts selected as runners-up, written by Sofia Comper-Cavanna from Burgess Hill Girls School and Utkarsh Dandanayak from Royal Grammar School, Guildford.

Belinda Tracey

Managing Editor

The problem with cashless societies

Utkarsh Dandanayak

Utkarsh Dandanayak, from Royal Grammar School, Guildford, is a runner-up of the second Bank of England/Financial Times schools blog competition. The competition invited students across the UK to address the question “What is the future of money?”

No one likes parting ways with hard-earned cash. As consumers, this behavioural trait of ours allows us to think twice before engaging in transactions that we may later regret. However, now there is a chance that this trait will be lost, with the introduction of Mastercard, Apple Pay and the like, which digitalise payment processes to provide transactional convenience. What is often forgotten is the subtle but potent side effect — financial abstraction — the fundamental problem with a cashless society.

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Bank of England and Financial Times Schools Blog Competition: Get writing!

The Bank and the FT are joining forces to launch a schools blogging competition.  We’re looking for the best blog written by a school student on the theme of  “The Future Economy”, with the winning blog(s) appearing on both the FT online and Bank Underground. Continue reading “Bank of England and Financial Times Schools Blog Competition: Get writing!” →

Bitesize: Common ownership across UK banks: implications for competition and financial stability

Paolo Siciliani and Daniel Norris

Asset managers make it more convenient for savers to diversify their investments in stock markets. They are also in a better position to monitor the managers of firms in their portfolios, even if they adopted a passive investment strategy. However, it has been argued that competition might be weakened when firms competing in concentrated industries, such as airlines, share the same small number of institutional investors as their top shareholders.

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