It is the 17th time the competition has been run and participation is open to citizens and non-citizens of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia as well as foreigners who at the time of the competition are registered as students of higher education institutions accredited in the Baltic States, enrolled in Bachelor's or Master's degree programs.
25 topics are proposed for the competition (for a full list, see https://www.makroekonomika.lv/konkursi/zinatniski-petniecisko-darbu-konkurss), though papers addressing other crucial topics on the economy of the Baltic States and euro area in relation to monetary policy may also be submitted for the competition.
For the second consecutive year, a special award named after the prominent Latvian economist Juris Vīksniņš will be awarded for the best competition paper, which will integrate the scientific methods in the field of economics and history providing an innovative view on one of the stages of economic development in Latvia, the Baltic States or Europe, or an economic idea in a historical context.
Competition papers need to be submitted to Latvijas Banka from 17 May to 31 May 2019. The competition papers will be evaluated by a committee set up by Latvijas Banka. The papers winning awards will be published on the website www.makroekonomika.lv, and their authors will receive cash prizes: EUR 2 000 to the first-prize winner and the lesser but more intriguing amount of EUR 1 422.87 to the winner of Juris Vīksniņš Award.
13 papers were submitted for the Competition of Student Scientific Research papers organised in the previous academic year of 2017/2018.
The first prize in the competition was awarded to Filip Drazdou and Darya Labok, students of the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, for the paper "Raspberries vs Wheat: Economic Sophistication as a New Predictor of Income Volatility". The paper analyses whether export diversification and uniqueness are the factors affecting output volatility.
The full rules and regulations are available at www.makroekonomika.lv in the section FOR STUDENTS.
