School Competition YES! About to Kick Off in 2018

Dates and News

The economics competition YES! returns for 2018.

Digitalisation, fair taxation, sustainability and populism – these are just some of the challenges facing our society and economy. We are more in need of creative and innovative ideas than ever before, particularly from the younger generation. The YES! – Young Economic Summit, Germany’s biggest high school competition based on social and economic issues, returns for 2018, with the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, once again serving as a scientific partner. Five teams of students from schools in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland will be coming to ZEW for the Southwest region kick-off in the week of 5–9 February 2018.

Economic experts at ZEW will once again be supporting the high school economics competition run by the Joachim Herz Stiftung and ZBW (German National Library of Economics – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics). ZEW researchers will assist groups of students in finding solutions to today’s economic problems and encourage the budding young economists to develop their skills and understanding of economic principles. This year the teams will be tackling a number of pressing topics, such as how to promote digitalisation within private firms or how to design an efficient allocation procedure for nursery school places. Other kick-off events for the North, West and East regions will take place throughout February and March 2018.

ZEW economists will be mentoring teams from the following schools in the Southwest:

  • Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Gymnasium Metzingen: Promoting Digitalisation in Businesses; Jörg Ohnemus and Steffen Viete
  • Saarpfalz Gymnasium Homburg I: Promoting Digitalisation in Businesses; Jörg Ohnemus and Steffen Viete
  • Otto-Schott-Gymnasium Mainz: Germany in the Digital Age – Public Administration of the Future; Sebastian Blesse and Thomas Schwab
  • BBS Wirtschaft 1 Ludwigshafen: Designing Efficient Allocation Procedures for Nursery School Places; Nicolas Fugger
  • Saarpfalz Gymnasium Homburg I:Using the Media in the Digital World; Daniel Erdsiek and Thomas Niebel

About YES!

The YES! – Young Economic Summit falls under the patronage of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The YES! programme, a joint project by the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics and the Joachim Herz Stiftung, is one of the biggest German school competitions aimed at getting young people to engage with global economic and social issues. Over the course of a six-month mentoring programme, the student teams will tackle pressing issues facing future generations. Researchers from various Leibniz institutions will be supporting the students by providing their scientific expertise. The regional qualification round for teams from Southwest Germany will take place on 15 June 2018 at ZEW in Mannheim. At the YES! final held in Hamburg in September 2018 the winning teams from the different regions will then compete against each other. ZEW mentored the winning team in last year’s competition from BBS Wirtschaft 1 Ludwigshafen.