The IEA is delighted to invite you to the semifinal of the 2017 Economics Debate.

The teams will be debating the following motions:

• This House Believes that high levels of pay in the UK are not economically justified and represent a market failure.


• This House Believes that central banks should be looking to move to raise interest rates.

The semifinalists will be:

• Oxford University – Emilia Clark, Katharine Janes, and Iggy Wood


• The University of Warwick -Simon Cremer, Komal Harjani, and Hannah Collins


• The London School of Economics – Jon Lo, Razzaq Fazail, and Sabareesh Ramachandran


• University College London – Jorge González-Gallarza, Michael Ryan, and Pavan Mahbubani

Preliminary rounds were held at each university and the winning team from each progressed to the semifinal.


The judging panel will be:

• Dr Steve Davies, Head of Education, IEA


• Dr Juan Castaneda, Director, Institute of International Monetary Research, University of Buckingham


• Kate Andrews, News Editor, IEA


• James Stillit, Economist, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy