https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/409/creativity.shtml

The Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank has an annual essay contest for high school juniors and seniors designed to heighten interest in economics, the dismal science. The winner gets a summer internship at the Minneapolis Fed, while runners-up win US Savings Bonds. In previous years, topics had ranged from "What role should the government play in the housing market?" to "Why are some countries rich and some countries poor?" It all seems in keeping with the image of a staid financial institution.

contest announcement photo

This year is a little different. For its 18th annual essay contest, the Minneapolis Fed wants the kids to write about the economics of illegal drugs. The contest announcement shows a photo of a pair of young people exchanging cash for drugs and asks, "What economics lessons can be drawn from this picture of an illegal drug deal?"

The accompanying text is provocative as well. "Drugs like methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, marijuana and LSD are deemed by the government so dangerous to users and society that their possession, use or sale is a criminal offense," it reads. "As this picture illustrates, however, making a product illegal does not eliminate the market for it." The huge profits from drug-selling have led to violent crime, "causing some to ask whether there is a better way to address the problem," the fed notes. "Some have proposed tougher enforcement. Others have suggested moving away from a criminal law strategy toward a public health approach, and still others have proposed legalizing drugs altogether."

The contest is open to 11th and 12th graders in the Minneapolis Fed's region, which includes the Dakotas, Montana, Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. And the Fed provides plenty of resources to potential essayists, including a review of economic principles and a primer on drug economics, replete with such topics as "externalities of drug abuse," "property rights and black markets," and "cost-benefit analysis and efficiency."

Minneapolis Fed writer-analyst Joe Mahon told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune the idea for the topic came from high school economics teachers. "This is something teachers at the high school level have often used to generate discussion," he said, adding that a leading college introductory economics text also contains a sidebar on the topic.

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