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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How lab-grown burgers could feed the world

Tyler Curtis

Tyler Curtis, from Hall Cross Academy, Doncaster is the winner of the Bank of England/Financial Times schools blogging competition. In his winning post, he looks at how artificial meat could reshape the economy and our environment…

Food, glorious food! But how glorious is it, especially meat, when its production is reminiscent of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein? Traditionally, a significant portion of the world’s workforce has been employed in agriculture throughout history, forcing us to allocate massive amounts of scarce resources to the sector. Today, nearly 27 per cent of people work in agriculture worldwide, according to the World Bank (the figure is just 1 per cent in the UK). However, the industry is on the verge of a new revolution.

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Facebook bank anyone?

Nicola Medicoff

Nicola Medicoff from St Paul’s Girls School, Hammersmith is the runner up in the Bank of England/Financial Times schools blogging competition. In her post, she looks at how fintech might reshape the banking industry…

Six years after setting up shop in London, ride-hailing app Uber has a fleet of 40,000 drivers doing battle with Black cabs, upsetting an industry that has seen little change since Hackney carriages started in the 1650s. Banks are bracing themselves for a similar assault, in their case from small fintech start-ups and large technology groups. Are the banks’ fears justified?

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