Economics is one of the majors international students apply for most, and one where an application most often has nothing to show for it beyond a grade. Most school systems do not teach it, so the students who stand out are the ones who went and found the subject themselves.
Competitions are the fastest way to do that, and the good ones are recognised in every admissions office. Askar from Kazakhstan lists his International Economics Olympiad silver among the achievements behind his full ride to the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Anel, also from Kazakhstan, put her IEO bronze and a first place in the national olympiad on her Barnard application. Aliya scored a perfect mark on the IEO finance paper on her way to Bocconi, and Fahim from Bangladesh represented his country at the IEO before Haverford.
The ten competitions below are the ones in the Borderless extracurricular database with a university, an academic association or a registered nonprofit behind them and entry open to students outside the United States. Each heading links to its database page, and every date, fee and figure was checked on the organiser's own site in September 2026.
The olympiad, the quiz bowl and the online cup
International Economics Olympiad
The IEO is to economics what the IMO is to maths: one national team per country, up to five students each, competing over three parts, a 40-question economics and finance test, an open-question paper where you answer four of five, and a business case presented to an international jury in English. IEO 2026 in Shenzhen had 54 participating countries and territories, and the association behind it, based in Bern, is chaired by the Harvard economist and Nobel laureate Eric Maskin. Participation is free for students; teams cover their own travel and accommodation. You cannot enter directly. You must be under 20 on June 30 of the competition year and win a place through your country's national economics olympiad, which is where every student above started. If your country does not yet take part, a national organisation can apply to join through the IEO site.
Harvard Pre-Collegiate Economics Challenge
HPEC is an in-person quiz competition in Harvard Yard, run by the Harvard Undergraduate Economics Association, with individual and team rounds on AP-level micro and macro plus economic history, news and recent research. Teams compete with a coach, and the association no longer offers a virtual option, so international teams need to travel. The 2027 edition is set for spring 2027, with the full rules, team size and registration details published when registration opens. The 2026 competition was held in April, with registration closing the week before.
Economics World Cup
The newest and most accessible of the team contests: an online competition in two rounds for anyone who has not yet started a bachelor's degree, in teams of one to six who can be from any school or country. Round one is a four-day trading simulation at about twenty minutes a day, and the finals give qualifying teams one week to answer a case study, submitted as a five-minute video, a two-page report, a ten-slide deck or a ten-minute podcast. The organiser says the case is developed with the Oxford Finance Society and investment-bank professionals, and its advisory board includes Craig Holmes, Professor of Economics at Oxford; it is a private organiser rather than a university. Registration for 2026-27 opened on September 16, 2026, with session one closing on November 1 and session two on November 15, results by Christmas and the grand prize an all-expenses-paid trip to Oxford. An administration fee applies, and financial aid is available where the fee is a barrier.
The investment competitions
Wharton Global High School Investment Competition
The largest and most credible of the investing competitions, run by the Wharton Global Youth Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Teams of four to six students from the same school, with a teacher as advisor, manage a $500,000 virtual portfolio on the Wharton Investment Simulator for a client drawn from a case study, then write an investment policy statement and a final report. Judges pick 50 semifinalists and ten finalists for the Global Finale at Wharton in Philadelphia, and Wharton is explicit that success is judged on the strategy and how well the team explains it, not on portfolio returns. The 2025-26 season had more than 6,300 registered teams, and 2,300 teams from 79 countries submitted final reports; the runner-up was a school from Brasília. Entry is free. Registration for 2026-27 closed on September 11, 2026, the competition runs September 28 to December 4, 2026, and the Global Finale is on April 29 to 30, 2027. Registration for the following season opens in August 2027.
Young Investors Society Global Stock Pitch Competition
Run by the Young Investors Society, a California nonprofit, and open to high-school students worldwide, alone or in pairs. You pick a listed company, write a stock pitch report with a buy, sell or hold recommendation, build a slide deck and record a video of the pitch. Entries go through quarterfinals and semifinals to a championship of the top five, and the top 100 teams across all events are invited to the Global Youth Investment Summit in New York City, held on Roosevelt Island in late May. Students in countries without their own event register for the International OPEN competition. US events charge $25 a person; the fee for the international event is published on the registration portal. The 2025-26 cycle opened in December and closed on February 20, 2026; 2027 dates are not yet published.
Youth Sustainable Investment Challenge
Run by YEFA, the Youth Entrepreneurship and Finance Association, a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit, for middle- and high-school students worldwide in teams of one to four. Teams manage a $1,000,000 virtual portfolio on StockTrak, the professional simulator, over the summer, with at least one ESG stock and no more than a fifth in cash, then write a 1,000-word strategy report, and the top ten pitch live online to a panel of finance judges: an eight-minute pitch, a two-minute impact proposal and five minutes of questions. The 2025 edition drew 181 teams and 442 students from 12 countries. There is no registration fee. In 2026 teams registered by June 28, traded from June 29 to September 4, and the final is on October 3, 2026; the 2027 cycle follows the same summer calendar.
The essay prizes
John Locke Institute Global Essay Prize
The best-known essay prize for high-school students, with an Economics category alongside philosophy, politics, history, psychology, theology and law, and entries from more than 150 countries. You answer one of three set questions in up to 2,000 words; the 2026 economics questions covered a cashless society, personalised pricing and Jeff Bezos. Entry is free, open to anyone under 19 on the submission deadline, and Junior entrants under 15 are judged separately. Each category awards $5,000, $2,000 and $1,000 scholarships, and the grand prize is a $10,000 scholarship. The 2026 cycle ran registration from February 2 to March 31 with essays due May 31 and an awards ceremony in London on October 3; the 2027 questions come out in the new year.
LSESU Economics Society Essay Competition
The London School of Economics students' union runs this one with the LSE Economics Department, and the five prompts are written by its professors. The 2026 questions came from Sir Christopher Pissarides, Ricardo Reis, Silvana Tenreyro, John Van Reenen and Michael Gmeiner, on topics from monitoring remote workers to taxing the top one percent. Entrants write 1,500 words on one of them, and it is open to secondary students globally, with students finishing school in 2026 or 2027 the intended audience. No entry fee is listed. Prizes are small, £50 to £100 and certificates, but the top five to ten percent earn a High Distinction, and the value is in having an essay graded by LSE's economics department. Submissions for 2026 closed on September 1, with results due in October or November; the 2027 cycle is announced over the summer.
Nottingham–World Bank Asian Economics Essay Competition
For students in Asia only: the University of Nottingham Malaysia runs it with the World Bank Group's Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Finance Hub, now in its thirteenth year, with judges from both. High-school and pre-university students write 1,500 to 2,000 words in English on the year's theme, alone or with one co-author. The 2026 prompt asked whether AI and digital technologies will widen or reduce inequality across Asia. No entry fee is listed, and prizes are RM1,000, RM800 and RM600 in each category. The 2026 deadline was August 14, with results due by the end of the year; the competition runs every year on the same schedule.
Berkeley Economic Review High School Essay Contest
The Berkeley Economic Review is the undergraduate economics journal at the University of California, Berkeley, and its contest asks high-school students for an essay of up to 1,000 words, grounded in evidence from economic journals and data and with a works-cited page, on one of two prompts. The spring 2026 prompts were the economics of artificial intelligence, how AI adoption shifts labour demand and wage inequality and what policy should do about it, and the rising cost of college as a driver of income inequality. Entries go in through a form on the journal's site, and winning essays are published there. The journal's site was under maintenance when we checked in September 2026, so the next deadline and the entry rules are the ones to confirm when it comes back up.
Start your own journey
Every student in the intro started with one thing: the national round of the International Economics Olympiad, which costs nothing and runs in more than 50 countries. If yours does not have one yet, the Wharton competition and the John Locke prize take you directly.
Kai, the Borderless AI college counselor, tells you which of these you qualify for, turns every deadline above into a task, and helps you turn an economics medal or essay into an application a reader can follow. It is free to use.
Start with Kai, and read the stories from students who did it.
