Edunomix India Essay Competition
A national essay competition for students in Classes 6–12, run by the Edunomix Institute. Choose one of five prompts on economics, policy and society, and make your argument in about 1,500 words.
Opens in —
The form opens on 30 August 2026. Submissions close on 30 September 2026.
- Announced
- 25 August 2026
- Submissions Open
- 30 August 2026
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Eligibility
- Classes 6–12
About the Competition
The Edunomix India Essay Competition invites students across India to think seriously about the questions shaping the country's economy — jobs, demographics, women in the workforce, financial literacy, and the attention economy. Entrants pick one of five prompts and write a single essay defending a clear argument.
Junior and Senior participants are judged separately, so students compete against others at a similar academic level. The strongest entries from each category are shortlisted and reviewed by economics scholars, and the top essays are published on the Edunomix Institute website.
The First Edition
The First Edition of the Edunomix India Essay Competition received participation from over 19 states of India and was a huge success all in all.
Read the winning essays from the first editionEligibility
Junior Category
Students in Classes 6–9.
Senior Category
Students in Classes 10–12, along with students who graduated Class 12 in 2026 — including incoming first-years and gap-year students.
Junior and Senior participants are judged separately so that students are competing against others at a similar academic level.
The Prompts
Choose one of the following five prompts. Both categories write on the same set of prompts.
Is India's Growth Creating Enough Good Jobs?
India's headline GDP figures look healthy, but much of that growth is concentrated in sectors that employ relatively few people — IT, finance, and increasingly automated manufacturing — while a large share of the workforce remains in low-paid informal work or agriculture. The more useful question may not be whether India is growing, but where that growth is happening and who it reaches. Is India optimizing for the wrong sectors, and what would it take for growth to translate into the kind of jobs people actually want?
Can India Become Rich Before Its Youth Advantage Disappears?
India's "demographic dividend" is often described as though it were money already in the bank. But a dividend only pays out if there are jobs and skills to back it up, and the window is finite: within a few decades the population begins to age out of that advantage. China used a comparable window to industrialize hard. Does India risk growing old before it grows rich? Argue whether the decisive variable is population size at all, or whether it is what the country does with the time it has left.
Why Are So Many Indian Women Still Outside the Workforce?
One of the most counterintuitive statistics in Indian economics is that female workforce participation fell over the past two decades even as household incomes rose — the opposite of what most people would predict. The explanations go beyond a simple shortage of jobs: personal safety, unpaid care work that falls to women by default, and social expectations about what paid work by a wife or daughter signals. Take that U-shaped trend as your starting point and unpack why rising incomes did not fix this.
Pocket Money to Portfolios: Why Financial Education Belongs in Schools
Indian students learn algebra and science in class, but very few are taught how taxes work, what inflation means, or how to build savings. With teenagers now getting early access to UPI wallets and investment apps, understanding money management has become crucial. Should practical financial literacy be integrated into CBSE and State board curricula? Explain how teaching money skills early can impact both students and the broader economy.
The Attention Economy and Human Capital
In the modern "Age of Alexandria," access to information is ubiquitous, yet major technology conglomerates possess a strong financial incentive to maximize user engagement through addictive algorithms. Analyze the hidden economic costs of this "information overdose" on human capital development and youth productivity in India. Should policymakers treat the attention economy as an externality requiring regulation, or is individual "digital minimalism" the only viable economic solution?
Submission Format
- Essays must be submitted as PDFs through the official Google Form.
- Preferred word count: 1,500 words.
- The word count excludes footnotes and bibliography.
-
File names should follow the format name-question number
— for example,
akshat-bhaskar-q2.pdf. - Senior Category: APA citation style is recommended.
- Junior Category: citations are optional.
Judging
The same core criteria apply across both categories:
Junior and Senior submissions are evaluated separately. The strongest entries are shortlisted, and the final entries are judged by economics scholars from the following institutions:
Harvard University
UC Berkeley
Cornell University
University of WarwickInstitutions are listed to show the judges' academic affiliations. The competition is organised by the Edunomix Institute and is not sponsored by, or affiliated with, these universities.
Recognition
Recognition applies separately to the Junior and Senior categories, so each category has its own Top 3, Top 5 and Top 7.
Top 3
- 1st, 2nd and 3rd place
- Publication
- Certificate
- LinkedIn recognition from the Edunomix Institute
- Invitation to join the Edunomix India Research Team
Top 5
- Publication
- Honourable Mention certificate
- Invitation to join the Edunomix India Research Team
Top 7
- Top 7 certificate
- Recognition on the Edunomix website
Publication
The top 5 essays from each category are published on the Edunomix Institute website, giving the selected students a formal academic publication they can reference in their portfolios and future applications.
AI Policy
Generative AI is not permitted
The use of generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or similar tools, is not permitted in the creation or writing of submitted essays.
All submissions must represent the participant's own original thinking, research, analysis, and writing.
Ready to submit?
The form opens on 30 August 2026. Submissions close on 30 September 2026. Essays are submitted as PDFs through the official Google Form.
Opens in —
Questions? Email edunomixinstitute@gmail.com.