John Locke Global Essay Prize 2026 Economics Prompts Breakdown
The John Locke Institute has just released the prompts for their international essay writing competitions for high school students. They have released three prompts for each of the following categories, philosophy, politics, economics, history, law, psychology, and theology. Each essay must address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category, and must not exceed 2000 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, endnotes, bibliography or authorship declaration).
To be eligible to compete, one's 19th birthday must fall after 31 May, 2026. Given this easily satisfied requirement for high school students the world over, many compete in this competition, making it incredibly competitive.
The John Locke Competition is one of the most prestigious essay writing competitions for high school students. It ranks alongside the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards as a humanities extracurricular activity that would impress admissions officers. Placing competitively in this competition could be what convinces an admissions officer at an elite university to admit an applicant.
One major difference between the John Locke competition and the Scholastic Writing and Arts Awards is that it has a right-wing, instead of a left-wing focus. Past winning essays have argued for fringe ideas like anarcho-capitalism. The John Locke Institute is committed to upholding the principles of classical liberalism espoused by John Locke, the founder of liberalism. Being liberal in Europe has a different connotation than it does in the U.S. While liberalism in the U.S. is associated with center-left politics like the Democratic Party, in Europe, it denotes what Americans would call libertarians, who believe in laissez-faire economic policies and upholding individual freedom to the point that it might enable individuals to infringe on the liberties of others, such as individuals having the right to deny service to people at their place of business due to their sexual orientation.
Despite the competition's right-wing focus, and the well-known left-wing bias of academics and admissions officers, high school students can place competitively without arguing for positions that would decrease their likability with a left-wing audience when applying to college.
We have extensive experience guiding applicants through this competition and are proud to have students who received at least a commendation from the judges. In this article, we will outline the three economics questions they ask and provide resources, along with cliff notes for these resources, to help start one's journey towards drafting compelling answers to these questions.
Economics Q1: Should we fear a cashless society?
John Locke's Works
1. Two Treatises of Government (1689)
Chapter V on property establishes labor theory of value and natural rights to property
Argues property rights exist prior to and independent of government
Relevant for examining whether government can mandate payment forms
Chapter IX discusses why people form governments, including protection of property
2. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)
Book IV examines knowledge, probability, and assent to uncertain propositions
Relevant for evaluating empirical claims about cashless society benefits and risks
Addresses how we should reason about novel situations with uncertain outcomes
3. A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)
Establishes limits on state authority over individual choices
Argues civil magistrate's power extends only to civil interests
Framework for examining whether mandating cashless transactions exceeds legitimate authority
4. Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising the Value of Money (1691)
Locke's direct engagement with monetary policy questions
Argues money's value derives from convention and trust, not intrinsic worth
Examines relationship between money supply, interest rates, and trade
Provides Lockean framework for analyzing money as social institution
Historical Resources
1. Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" (1776)
Book I, Chapters IV-V on the origin and use of money
Explains how money emerges from barter inconveniences
Distinguishes money's functions: medium of exchange, unit of account, store of value
Framework for evaluating whether digital payment systems fulfill money's purposes
2. Carl Menger's "On the Origins of Money" (1892)
Explains spontaneous emergence of money through market processes
Argues money need not be government-created to function
Relevant for understanding private digital currencies and payment systems
3. Friedrich Hayek's "Denationalisation of Money" (1976)
Argues for competing private currencies instead of government monopoly
Examines how currency competition could improve monetary stability
Framework for evaluating private payment systems vs. central bank digital currencies
4. Georg Simmel's "The Philosophy of Money" (1900)
Analyzes money's role in enabling individual freedom and anonymity
Argues cash creates social distance that protects privacy
Examines psychological and sociological dimensions of monetary exchange
5. John Maynard Keynes's "A Tract on Monetary Reform" (1923)
Discusses the social contract implicit in monetary systems
Examines inflation as hidden taxation
Relevant for understanding monetary policy implications of cashless systems
Contemporary Resources
1. Kenneth Rogoff's "The Curse of Cash" (2016)
Comprehensive argument for phasing out large-denomination bills
Argues cash facilitates tax evasion, crime, and corruption
Proposes gradual transition while protecting financial inclusion
Primary contemporary case for moving toward cashless society
2. Brett Scott's "Cloudmoney: Cash, Cards, Crypto, and the War for Our Wallets" (2022)
Critical analysis of the "war on cash" by financial technology industry
Argues cashless systems increase corporate surveillance and control
Examines how payment infrastructure shapes economic power
Counterpoint to Rogoff's pro-cashless arguments
3. Norbert Häring's "The Curse of Cash: How Large-Denomination Bills Aid Crime and Tax Evasion" (Critical Review, 2017)
Critique of Rogoff's arguments for eliminating cash
Questions empirical claims about cash and crime
Examines civil liberties implications of cashless systems
4. Eswar Prasad's "The Future of Money" (2021)
Comprehensive overview of digital currencies and payment systems
Analyzes central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)
Examines implications for monetary policy, privacy, and financial inclusion
Balanced treatment of benefits and risks
5. Shoshana Zuboff's "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" (2019)
Analyzes how digital transactions generate valuable behavioral data
Argues tech companies have created new form of economic extraction
Framework for understanding privacy costs of digital payments
Relevant for examining who benefits from cashless transactions
6. David Birch's "Before Babylon, Beyond Bitcoin" (2017)
History of money and payment systems
Argues identity-linked digital money is inevitable
Examines tradeoffs between convenience and privacy
Provides balanced perspective on cashless transition
7. Aaron Sahr's "Keystroke Capitalism" (2022)
Examines how digital money creation has transformed banking
Analyzes power dynamics in monetary systems
Relevant for understanding who controls cashless infrastructure
Key Questions and Issues to Address
Definitional Challenges
What exactly constitutes a "cashless society," elimination of all physical currency or merely dominance of digital payments?
Is fear the appropriate evaluative standard, or should we assess costs and benefits more neutrally?
How does Locke's understanding of money as convention inform analysis of cashless systems?
Theoretical Frameworks
Does Locke's labor theory of property extend to digital payment methods?
Can cashless mandates be reconciled with Lockean limits on government authority?
How do different conceptions of freedom (negative vs. positive) evaluate cashless society?
Privacy and Surveillance
What is lost when every transaction becomes traceable?
How should we weigh security benefits against privacy costs?
Who owns and controls transaction data in cashless systems?
Financial Inclusion and Access
How would cashless systems affect the unbanked and underbanked?
What happens during system failures, cyberattacks, or natural disasters?
Does cash provide essential backup that digital systems cannot replicate?
Power and Control
How does eliminating cash shift power between individuals, corporations, and governments?
Could cashless systems enable unprecedented economic control or censorship?
What safeguards would be necessary to prevent abuse?
Practical Considerations
What do countries like Sweden (nearly cashless) reveal about feasibility and consequences?
How do generational differences in payment preferences affect analysis?
What transition costs and disruptions would accompany cashless shift?
Economics Q2: Technology now allows personalised pricing. If this came to be widely used, what effects should we expect?
John Locke's Works
1. Two Treatises of Government (1689)
Chapter V establishes that value derives from labor, not arbitrary assignment
Discusses just acquisition of property through mixing labor with nature
Relevant for examining whether personalized prices can be "just"
Chapter IX on the ends of political society addresses protection from exploitation
2. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)
Book II, Chapter XXI examines how ideas of pleasure and pain guide choices
Book IV discusses how we form judgments under uncertainty
Relevant for analyzing consumer decision-making under personalized pricing
Addresses whether consumers can rationally navigate variable prices
3. Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest (1691)
Argues market prices emerge from supply and demand, not government decree
Discusses how price signals coordinate economic activity
Framework for examining whether personalized pricing distorts market information
Historical Resources
1. Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" (1776)
Book I, Chapters V-VII on natural and market prices
Discusses how competition drives prices toward natural levels
Examines price discrimination through different markets
Framework for understanding whether personalized pricing is natural market evolution
2. Alfred Marshall's "Principles of Economics" (1890)
Book V develops theory of supply, demand, and equilibrium
Introduces concept of consumer surplus
Analyzes price discrimination in detail
Foundation for understanding welfare effects of differential pricing
3. Arthur Pigou's "The Economics of Welfare" (1920)
Part II, Chapter XVII classifies degrees of price discrimination
First-degree discrimination: perfect personalized pricing
Analyzes welfare implications of different discrimination types
Foundational economic analysis of the question
4. Joan Robinson's "The Economics of Imperfect Competition" (1933)
Chapter 15-16 provide systematic analysis of price discrimination
Examines conditions enabling discrimination
Discusses effects on output and welfare
Classic treatment of differential pricing
5. Friedrich Hayek's "The Use of Knowledge in Society" (1945)
Argues prices communicate dispersed information
Examines how price signals coordinate economic activity
Relevant for asking whether personalized prices still perform this function
Contemporary Resources
1. Hal Varian's "Differential Pricing and Efficiency" (1996)
Systematic analysis of when price discrimination increases or decreases welfare
Distinguishes different types and their effects
Chief economist at Google, now Alphabet
Foundational contemporary treatment
2. Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice Stucke's "Virtual Competition" (2016)
Examines how algorithms enable new forms of price discrimination
Analyzes "behavioral discrimination" based on personal data
Discusses antitrust implications
Accessible treatment of algorithmic pricing
3. Ryan Calo's "Digital Market Manipulation" (Maryland Law Review, 2014)
Argues personalized pricing enables manipulation of consumer weaknesses
Examines legal frameworks for addressing algorithmic exploitation
Discusses whether existing consumer protection law is adequate
4. Alessandro Acquisti's research on personalized pricing and privacy
Empirical studies of online price discrimination
Examines how companies use personal data for pricing
Analyzes consumer awareness and responses
Leading researcher on privacy economics
5. Oren Bar-Gill's "Seduction by Contract" (2012)
Examines how firms design contracts to exploit behavioral biases
Analyzes credit cards, mortgages, and cell phone contracts
Framework for understanding how personalized pricing might exploit consumers
6. Joseph Turow's "The Aisles Have Eyes" (2017)
Examines how retailers use data to personalize prices and offers
Analyzes the "discriminatory future of shopping"
Discusses consumer awareness and response
Accessible treatment of retail personalization
7. Michal Gal's "Algorithmic Challenges to Autonomous Choice" (Michigan Technology Law Review, 2018)
Examines how algorithms may undermine consumer autonomy
Discusses manipulation through personalized offers
Framework for thinking about agency in algorithmic markets
Key Questions and Issues to Address
Definitional Challenges
What distinguishes personalized pricing from traditional price discrimination?
How perfect can personalization become with current and future technology?
How would Locke's theory of value evaluate prices set by algorithm rather than market?
Efficiency Effects
Could perfect price discrimination actually increase total output by eliminating deadweight loss?
Would personalized pricing improve or distort market signals?
How would effects differ across industries and product types?
Distributional Consequences
Would personalized pricing transfer surplus from consumers to producers?
Which consumers would win and which would lose?
Could personalized pricing exacerbate inequality?
Behavioral and Psychological Effects
How would widespread personalized pricing affect consumer trust?
Would consumers invest excessive effort in price comparison?
Could personalized pricing exploit cognitive biases and vulnerabilities?
Competition and Market Structure
Would personalized pricing increase or decrease competitive pressure?
How would it affect market entry and innovation?
Could it enable tacit collusion through algorithmic coordination?
Privacy and Autonomy
What data would firms need to collect for effective personalization?
Does personalized pricing require unacceptable privacy invasions?
Can consumers meaningfully consent to pricing based on their personal data?
Policy Responses
Should personalized pricing be regulated, banned, or permitted?
What transparency requirements would be appropriate?
How should antitrust law respond to algorithmic pricing?
Economics Q3: Did Jeff Bezos get rich at the expense of his customers, his employees, neither or both?
John Locke's Works
1. Two Treatises of Government (1689)
Chapter V: Labor theory of property, one gains legitimate ownership by mixing labor with resources
Discusses the "enough and as good" proviso, acquisition must leave sufficient for others
Relevant for examining whether Bezos's wealth accumulation was legitimate
Chapter IX examines legitimate vs. exploitative economic arrangements
2. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)
Book II, Chapter XXI on power examines voluntary action
Discusses how pleasure, pain, and desire guide human choices
Relevant for analyzing whether workers and customers acted freely
Framework for examining consent in economic transactions
3. Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest (1691)
Discusses how wealth is created through productive activity
Examines relationship between labor, capital, and economic growth
Relevant for understanding whether Amazon created or merely captured value
Historical Resources
1. Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" (1776)
Book I, Chapter 8 on wages of labor
Book II on the nature and accumulation of capital
Argues capitalist investment creates employment and raises wages
Framework for viewing entrepreneurial wealth as socially beneficial
2. Karl Marx's "Capital" (1867)
Volume I develops theory of surplus value extraction
Argues profit necessarily comes from unpaid labor
Framework for viewing Bezos's wealth as exploitation
Part III on the production of absolute surplus value
3. Joseph Schumpeter's "Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy" (1942)
Chapter VII on creative destruction
Argues entrepreneurial profits reward innovation and risk-taking
Framework for viewing Bezos as innovative entrepreneur, not exploiter
Discusses temporary monopoly profits as innovation incentive
4. John Rawls's "A Theory of Justice" (1971)
Develops difference principle: inequalities justified only if they benefit least advantaged
Framework for evaluating whether Amazon's effects justify Bezos's wealth
Part Two on institutions examines just economic arrangements
5. Robert Nozick's "Anarchy, State, and Utopia" (1974)
Develops entitlement theory of justice in holdings
Argues holdings are just if acquired through just processes
Critiques patterned theories of distribution
Framework for defending Bezos's wealth as legitimately acquired
Contemporary Resources
1. Brad Stone's "The Everything Store" (2013) and "Amazon Unbound" (2021)
Comprehensive history of Amazon and Bezos
Documents business practices, treatment of workers, competitive tactics
Provides factual foundation for evaluating the question
Essential background reading
2. Alec MacGillis's "Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America" (2021)
Investigative examination of Amazon's effects on workers and communities
Documents warehouse working conditions
Examines impact on retail employment and small businesses
Critical perspective on Amazon's social effects
3. Lina Khan's "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox" (Yale Law Journal, 2017)
Argues Amazon exercises market power against competitors and suppliers
Examines predatory pricing strategies
Framework for understanding how platform dominance affects stakeholders
Now FTC Chair; highly influential analysis
4. James Bloodworth's "Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain" (2018)
Firsthand account of working in Amazon warehouse
Documents working conditions, surveillance, and pace requirements
Critical perspective on Amazon's treatment of workers
5. Consumer welfare studies on Amazon's effects
Research showing Amazon has lowered consumer prices substantially
Studies on increased consumer choice and convenience
Evidence that Amazon has increased consumer surplus
Framework for defending Amazon's consumer benefits
6. Economic studies on Amazon's labor market effects
Research on warehouse wages compared to alternatives
Studies on Amazon's effects on local employment
Analysis of whether Amazon created or displaced jobs
Mixed evidence requiring careful evaluation
7. Matt Stoller's "Goliath" (2019)
Examines Amazon in context of monopoly history
Argues tech platforms represent new form of concentrated power
Framework for understanding Amazon's competitive effects
Critical perspective on market concentration
Key Questions and Issues to Address
Definitional Challenges
What does "at the expense of" mean? Direct harm, opportunity cost, or counterfactual comparison?
How do we measure whether customers and employees are better or worse off?
How does Locke's labor theory evaluate wealth from entrepreneurship vs. direct labor?
Customer Effects
Has Amazon lowered prices and increased selection for consumers?
How should we value convenience versus effects on local retail?
Does Amazon's dominance ultimately harm consumers through reduced competition?
Are consumers better off overall compared to pre-Amazon retail?
Employee Effects
How do Amazon wages and benefits compare to alternatives workers would have?
Are working conditions exploitative given available alternatives?
Has Amazon's growth created jobs that wouldn't otherwise exist?
How should we evaluate the counterfactual of no Amazon?
Theoretical Frameworks
Does Locke's labor theory legitimate Bezos's wealth given his organizational labor?
How would Rawls's difference principle evaluate Amazon's effects?
Does Nozick's entitlement theory justify Bezos's holdings?
Is Schumpeter's creative destruction framework applicable?
Causation and Attribution
How much of Amazon's success reflects Bezos's decisions vs. luck, timing, or others' work?
Can we separate legitimate innovation profits from monopoly extraction?
How should we evaluate business practices like aggressive tax minimization?
Counterfactual Reasoning
What would have happened to retail, employment, and prices without Amazon?
Would another firm have provided similar benefits with less concentrated wealth?
Is the relevant comparison to the actual alternatives or ideal alternatives?
If you are overwhelmed by the number of sources and complexity of answering these questions, we understand. English teachers don't prepare high school students to tackle such formidable challenges in economics. But we do. Schedule a free consultation with a John Locke competition writing expert today and learn how to unpack all of these sources to write a coherent and logically sound 2000 word essay which will earn you a competitive placing in this competition and impress admission officers.
Work With Our John Locke Expert Coaches
If you are overwhelmed by the number of sources and complexity of answering these questions, we understand. English teachers don't prepare high school students to tackle such formidable challenges in economics. But we do.
Cosmic College Consulting has helped students earn shortlists, commendations, and prizes in the John Locke Competition. Our three expert coaches have collectively supervised 50+ John Locke essays and bring deep expertise in philosophy, politics, economics, and academic writing.
Marcus Lewis
John Locke Specialist | Scholastic Writing Expert
Supervised 25+ John Locke Competition essays with approximately 10 students earning commendations
Extensive Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards coaching, most students earn Gold or Silver Keys
Experience across fiction, satire, and argumentative essay forms
Coached students for Columbia Undergraduate Law Review Essay Competition (1 shortlist)
Additional experience with Profiles in Courage, Harvard Economics Essay, Bowseat, Engineer Girl, and Patricia Grodd Poetry competitions
Dr. Jason Goldfarb
PhD, Duke University | Published Academic & Periodical Writer
Supervised 25+ John Locke Competition essays, students have earned shortlists, Junior Prize placements, and top commendations
Supervised 10+ independent student research papers
Guided student publications in TeenInk, Scholastic, and IEEE Harvard
Published author in professional academic journals and popular periodicals
Brings doctoral-level expertise in constructing rigorous academic arguments
Ready to Write a Winning Essay?
Schedule a free consultation with one of our John Locke expert coaches today. Learn how to unpack these sources, develop a compelling thesis, and write a coherent, logically sound 2000-word essay that will earn you a competitive placing in this competition and impress admissions officers.
