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Economics World Cup 2024
12th September 2024

The World Economics Cup is an esteemed global competition that tests participants’ knowledge, comprehension, and creativity in the field of economics. A team of six SFC2s (Year 13) participated in the Continental Finals of the World Economics Cup, placing 9th overall.

Specifically, Preeyanun placed 5th in Europe in the Fundamentals round and Inaya placed 5th in Europe in the Deep Comprehension round. With all six of us achieving a Higher Distinction in the National round, we then qualified to represent Cheltenham Ladies’ College in the European final.  

This year, we participated in three challenging modules: Fundamentals, Deep Comprehension, and Thinking & Innovation. Each module required a deep understanding of economic principles, critical thinking and creativity, pushing the team to apply our knowledge to real-world scenarios. 

The first module, Fundamentals, consisted of 100 multiple-choice questions aimed at assessing our understanding of key economic concepts, with topics ranging from basic principles, such as supply and demand, to more complex subjects in microeconomics and macroeconomics. 

For the Deep Comprehension round, we attended lectures from professors of Seoul University around the topic of technological advancements in economics. The first talk revolved around cryptocurrency and specifically Bitcoin, where we learnt about the mining process and the security used in the blockchain that has prevented multiple potential attacks. Afterwards, we received a FinTech talk about the use of innovative technology to provide financial services more efficiently and affordably. We completed a mixture of comprehension questions on the lectures as well as news articles relating to the concept of technology complementing economic endeavours. 

For the Thinking & Innovation section, we were given a prompt and 24 hours to create a presentation in video format to present how a growing healthcare technology company could integrate AI usage, and the consequences for the technological, labour, and ethical aspects of the firm.

We aimed to maximise patient care by having the firm introduce AI models to allow patients to make diagnoses, whilst also accounting for biases within the models leading to potential misdiagnoses. We also discussed the security required to handle sensitive patient data securely to minimise data breaches. In the labour section, we suggested the company to utilise AI to accompany doctors to diagnose patients. Furthermore, we proposed the transition from a traditional operating model to a digital operating model to increase efficiency and profits. Additionally, by employing digital tools to automate repetitive tasks, employees can focus on more complex, creative work and strategic decision making.  

Preeyanun, Inaya, and Matilda (SFC2)