$130,000 Prize Offered to Economist Who Solves Weak U.K. Growth
Institute for Public Policy Research announced the search for “radical ideas” to bolster growth.
(Bloomberg) -- Crafting a solution to lackluster U.K. economic growth could land someone a 100,000 pound ($130,000) prize in a new competition launched on Wednesday.
A week after official forecasters predicted the U.K. won’t expand faster than 1.6 percent over the next five years and as Brexit looms, the Institute for Public Policy Research announced the search for “radical ideas” to bolster growth.
The think tank said the prize was likely the world’s third biggest in economics. It was announced in tandem with the release of a poll which showed only 23 percent of respondents were confident that the government could find new ways to bolster demand.
The judging panel will be chaired by Stephanie Flanders, the head of Bloomberg Economics, and includes John Mills, the founder of consumer-products company JML, who is contributing to the prize. Entrants must submit a 5,000-word outline of their proposal by Jan. 6.
The challenge is to find ideas that could force a “step change in the quality and quantity of the U.K.’s economic growth,” the IPPR said in a statement.
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