AAEO 2023

The inaugural Australasian Economics Olympiad (AAEO), run in 2023, consisted of an essay-based Round 1 individual examination component, followed by a Round 2 team-based component for which the five national Olympiad-winning students from each of Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand were brought to Sydney, with accompanying teachers and parents, to work in country teams at UNSW on an economic policy case study. Amongst the competing students, three schools were represented from Singapore and five from New Zealand. Overseas visitors paid for their own flights, but the AAEO budget covered accommodation and all meals and incidentals, as well as underwriting the travel to Sydney of interstate AEO winners.

The in-person AAEO 2023 event kicked off with an informal pizza dinner on the evening of Thursday 13 July, and the group was taken by bus to visit the NSW Treasury and then the RBA on Friday, punctuated by lunch at a restaurant in the crypt near Hyde Park. On Friday night students and teachers enjoyed dinner together at a local restaurant in The Spot Randwick, a 15-minute walk from UNSW's Kensington campus. On Saturday and Sunday, students worked intensively in country teams on the case study on campus in state-of-the-art teaching and presentation rooms at UNSW Business School, with lunches and Saturday dinner provided on campus. On Sunday afternoon, each team presented their analysis and recommendations under strict time requirements to observers and a panel of judges (all professional economists). The Australian team won the Gold medal, the New Zealand team the Silver, and the Singapore team the Bronze. Individual AAEO winners were also selected by the AEO organising team based on students' performance in the Round 1 essay examination component of the AAEO, with a Singaporean student earning the individual Gold medal, a New Zealand student taking the Silver, and an Australian student taking the Bronze.