The Adam Smith Institute gives Year 12 Economists food for thought

In February, Year 12 A-Level Economics students were lucky enough to participate in a day of lectures from the Adam Smith Institute, one of the UK’s most renowned economics ‘think tanks.’

Head of Economics and Business Studies, Mr Coote, said:  ‘We have previously attended Adam Smith lectures in London.  Last week’s event was the second time they have visited us, and were are very lucky indeed to have them to speak to our Economics students’.  

Year 12 Students Yasmine Dajani and Megan Jones shared their experience of the conference:

‘Having the Adam Smith Institute visit us at Sheffield Girls’ has been invaluable for learning about concepts from the classroom put into real life situations. For example How the theory of ‘lemons and peaches’ plays out in 'The Economics of Uber'.

The main theory is linked to buying second hand cars. When you buy a second hand car, you don't know whether it's a ‘peach’ - a car that is good quality and won't need a lot of repairs - or a ‘lemon’ - that is likely to break down. Only the seller knows which it is because most people aren't experts in the quality of second hand cars.

This causes the peaches to be undervalued, and the lemons to be overvalued, so when selling a peach, the seller loses out and vice versa.  

It was also really good to get statistical evidence about economic theories that enable us to make up our own minds about whether or not we agree with them and being able to justify our opinion as well.

They presented their current research projects in a humorous and clear way and also gave us, along with our visitors from Nottingham High School, the opportunity to voice our own views to experts in that field, enabling us to get a better understanding of economics which will be truly beneficial for our studies going forward. Thank you to the Adam Smith Institute for coming.’

By Yasmine Dajani and Megan Jones