The IEO syllabus
Everything the written rounds can draw on — economics, finance and financial literacy — plus exactly how points are scored. Distilled in plain English from the official IEO Syllabus.
Economics
Models are applied to modern settings — platform markets, digital payments, AI-driven productivity, the climate transition and supply-chain shocks.
Microeconomics
- Competitive markets: demand & supply, elasticities, equilibrium
- Consumer choice · firm behaviour
- Non-competitive markets: monopoly, oligopoly, monopolistic competition
- Digital platforms & network effects · digital-economy pricing (freemium, bundling, personalised pricing)
- Government intervention · market failures (externalities, public goods, asymmetric information)
- Labour market · innovation
- Game theory: Nash equilibrium, cooperation, commitments, repeated games
Macroeconomics
- Measuring income, inflation & unemployment
- Technology & long-run growth
- The AD–AS model
- Money & the role of banks
- Monetary & fiscal policy
- Economic fluctuations & crises
- Institutions & inequality
International economics
- Specialisation & gains from trade
- Protectionism: winners and losers
- Currencies, currency unions, exchange rates & interest-rate parity
- Economics of the environment & sustainable development
Frontiers & evidence
- Major contemporary questions in economics
- How economists use data
- Natural & field experiments
- Reasoning about correlation vs. plausible causal mechanisms
Finance & financial literacy
Financial planning
Income, expenses & debt management · financial goals · budgeting.
Banks & the banking system
Institutions for savings, credit & payments · deposits, loans, rates & the central bank.
Saving money
Setting money aside & earning interest · savings accounts · compound interest.
Borrowing & credit
Borrowed funds repaid with interest · credit cards, loans, credit scores & rates.
Investment, instruments & risk
Time value of money · stocks, bonds, diversification · risk vs. return · derivatives.
Insurance
Protection against potential losses · premiums, coverage, deductibles & liability.
Fraud & Ponzi schemes
Deceptive practices · phishing, pyramid & Ponzi schemes · regulatory measures.
Crowdfunding
Raising funds from many contributors · platforms · donation- & equity-based.
Cryptocurrencies
Digital currencies on blockchain · volatility · decentralised finance.
The rating system
The competition is scored out of 200 — Economics & Finance (150, individual) plus the Business Case (50, team).
MCQ
- Questions40
- Marking+2 / −0.5 / 0
- Part of150-pt score
Open Questions
- Questions5 (best 4)
- Each30 raw pts
- Part of150-pt score
Business Case
- Teamup to 5
- Max50 pts
- Judged on4 skills
Raw scores are standardised per part with a z-score and then rescaled — with Z = (G − A)/σ, the final part score is F = (M/2) × (1 + Z/2), floored at 0, where M is the part maximum — so the 150-point Economics & Finance and 50-point Business Case combine fairly into one 200-point total. Your individual total = Economics & Finance + your team’s Business Case; ties are broken by the Economics & Finance score. Gold, silver and bronze are awarded on overall individual results, with total medals capped at half of the invited contestants (counted as participating countries × 5); teams earn separate trophies.
Recommended texts
Economics
The Economy 2.0: Micro & Macro (CORE Econ, free online) — the main recommendation; plus Principles of Economics (Mankiw) and A-level / IB texts.
Finance
CORE’s finance unit, plus free courses from GFLEC, the FDIC’s Money Smart, and Khan Academy’s personal & core finance.
Business case
The Pyramid Principle (Minto), Case in Point (Cosentino), The McKinsey Way (Rasiel) & Crack the Case (Ohrvall) — plus past IEO cases.
Past papers & reports
Past problems are available for every edition, 2018–2025 — MCQ and open questions with solutions, the financial-literacy tasks, and the business-case briefs with evaluation criteria. Each edition also has a Final Report. Working through them under time is the single best way to learn the style.
The papers themselves are official downloads. We link to the originals so you always get the current files rather than an out-of-date copy.