New Round of the YES! Student Competition Kicks Off
Dates and NewsAn Economic Summit for the Next Generation
Facts and fake news, working and welfare, interest rates and savings, start-ups and the green economy, labour markets and refugees – these are just some of the challenges facing our society and economy. We are more in need of innovative ideas than ever before, particularly from the younger generation. The YES! – Young Economic Summit, Germany’s biggest school competition based on social and economic issues, returns for 2020. Five teams of students from schools in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and Saarland came to ZEW Mannheim for the Southwest region kick-off in the week of 10–19 March 2020.
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 young people to develop their understanding of economic principles. This year, the teams will once again be working on a number of pressing topics and developing innovative solutions to these issues. Other kick-off events for the North, West and East regions will take place throughout March 2020.
ZEW economists will be mentoring teams from the following schools in the Southwest region:
- Working While on Welfare: Is It Worth It? (Florian Buhlmann, ZEW) – Christian Erbach Realschule plus Gau-Algesheim
- Gründerzeit now! Through Innovative Start-Ups to Green Economy (Johannes Bersch and Marius Berger, ZEW) – Berufliches Schulzentrum Leonberg
- Facts vs. Fake News – Why Digital Science Communication Is Getting More Important (Daniela Heimberger and Felix Kretz, ZEW) – Goethe-Gymnasium Freiburg
- Efficiently Organising Day-Care Allocations for Children (Nicolas Fugger and Tobias Riehm, ZEW) – Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium Stuttgart
- “My House, My Savings Account, My Retirement”: Saving for the Future: Dealing with Low Interest Rates (Karolin Kirschenmann and Jesper Riedler, ZEW) – Gymnasium bei St. Michael, Schwäbisch Hall
- “My House, My Savings Account, My Retirement”: Saving for the Future: Dealing with Low Interest Rates (Karolin Kirschenmann and Jesper Riedler, ZEW) – Richard-Müller-Schule Fulda
- Public Institutions and Air-Travel – How Can the Coordination Problem Be Overcome? (Vera Huwe and Theodoros Chatzivasileiadis, ZEW) – Kreisgymnasium Neuenburg
- Making It in the German Labour Market: Strengthening the Integration of Refugees (Katia Gallegos Torres, Katrin Sommerfeld and Paul Berbée, ZEW) – Saarpfalz-Gymnasium Homburg
- Making It in the German Labour Market: Strengthening the Integration of Refugees (Katia Gallegos Torres, Katrin Sommerfeld and Paul Berbée, ZEW) – Lise-Meitner-Gymnasium Maxdorf
ZEW defends title in 2019
ZEW will be taking part in the YES! competition for the fourth time now and is proud to have led one of its teams to victory every year since 2017. There’s lots of motivation to keep competing at the top for the fourth year in a row and continue housing the YES! Competition Cup at ZEW.
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, student teams tackle pressing issues facing future generations. Researchers from various Leibniz institutions in Germany support the students by providing scientific expertise. In 2020, 16 partner institutes will be participating in the competition. ZEW forms part of the South West region, in which the LOEWE Centre SAFE (“Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe”) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO are participating for the first time. By participating in YES!, students explore immediate political, social, economic and environmental challenges, giving them the opportunity to contribute their voices to current economic policy discourse.
