By Oren Asser, year 12
On the 11th of March 2022, the members of the Economics Society assembled to attend a presentation regarding the effects of war on an economy by two year 12 students, Zeno Morra di Lavriano and Pieter de Jong. The enlightening presentation masterfully depicted the key concepts of war economics while focusing on its impacts.
Zeno and Pieter began the presentation by separating the topic into four main sections and breaking it down into smaller branches. They began by discussing the short-term impacts of war on an economy. They informed the group that despite all the negatives of war, a vast amount of the population is put to work to help the war effort, leading to higher employment. They also thoroughly described the impacts of infrastructural damage on an economy; as Pieter said, “A broken road means the economic activity cannot happen as efficiently.” To finish with the short-term impacts they outlined the uncertainties people can have during war, which decreases economic activity.
Moving into the next section, Zeno and Pieter comprehensively described the long-term economic impacts of war while focusing on a graph illustrating the government debts of the United Kingdom from 1900 to 2020, which increased during WW1 and WW2, and providing various solutions. They then explored the different types of shortages a country could have because of war, such as a reduction in factors of production, and they took gas as a prime example. The two students then had a thorough look at inflation rates and deflation rates, by describing the concept of cost-push inflation. To end, they looked at the economic sanctions which could happen during the war and used Russia as an example.
Overall, the two year 12 students, despite the technical issues, were meticulous in their analysis and confident, which certainly added to the cosy atmosphere of the presentation. Several members of the audience took it upon themselves to share their own opinions on the engrossing talk by Zeno and Pieter, whereas a few others decided to ask questions which resulted in some productive discussions among the students.
From the audience’s standpoint, the presentation was well done: informative without being boring, engaging without being too over-the-top. Jonah O’Toole, year 12, a member of the audience, said, “I really enjoyed the presentation, and was particularly amazed by the fact that despite the technical difficulties they were still able to present while having the audience not only watch but also interact and ask questions. What was also particularly interesting were the different economic sanctions implemented during and after a war.”
On the whole, the presentation was satisfying and easy to understand, even for someone without any background knowledge. The group looks forward to more presentations and talks from the members of the Economics Society. The group was thankful to Zeno and Pieter for their commendable work on the presentation!
Join the Economics Society in CH 15 every Friday from 10:30-10:55 to have the opportunity to present! We hope to see you there!
