About our prizes and awards

The Allyn Young Prize is awarded for outstanding performance in micro economics in the second year of an undergraduate programme (EC201 and EC202). Each winner receives a cheque for £100.

Allyn Young (1876-1929) taught economics at Harvard University before moving to the London School of Economics and Political Science in the late 1920s. Young’s 1928 essay on increasing returns and economic growth continues to inspire modern conversations about endogenous growth theory.

The Gonner Prize is awarded for outstanding merit in the final year of BSc Economics. The winner receives a cheque for £100.  

Sir Edward Carter Kersey Gonner (1862-1922) is noted for his influence on the teaching of economics in higher education during the late 19^th century and beyond.

In 1891, Gonner was appointed as Brunner chair of economic science in Liverpool. As an educator and economist, his areas of expertise included history, political economy and statistics. Throughout the First World War, Gonner worked in the Ministry of Food as an economic adviser and later, as director of statistics. Gonner was appointed CBE in 1918 and KBE in 1921 for his wartime service.

(Source: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)

The J R (Bob) Gould Prize is awarded to the Department of Economics student with the best performance in Economics B (EC102). Each winner receives a book token worth £100.

In 1953, Joseph Robert (Bob) Gould (1927-1999) applied to study BSc Economics at the School. He chose Accounting as his Special Subject and completed his first year successfully. Due to ill health, Gould was forced to take time out from his studies but returned to the School in 1955, graduating in 1957 with first-class honours. For his outstanding academic performance, Gould was awarded the Allyn Young Prize.

His potential was evident and Gould was immediately appointed to the post of Teaching Assistant in October 1957. He was appointed to Assistant Lecturer a year later and promoted to Lecturer in 1960. During his time at LSE, Gould also worked as Senior Lecturer and Reader.

After taking early retirement in 1990, Gould continued to work in the Department of Economics as a Visiting Teacher in Economics, allocating the teaching and examining quotas to members of the Department.

Bob Gould was primarily an economist who worked in the area of microeconomics, but with wider interests in business administration and accounting. As a result, he not only published in economic journals, such as Economica, the Economic Journal and the Journal of Political Economy, but also in Accountancy, the Journal of Law and Economics, the Modern Law Review and the Yale Law Journal.

(With special thanks to Jim Thomas (Emeritus Reader in Economics and Research Associate STICERD, LSE) and Sue Donnelly, School archivist.)

The Premchand Prize is awarded for outstanding performance in the third year paper in Monetary Economics (EC321). The winner receives a cheque for £200.

This prize was donated by the Premchand family towards the end of the 1930s. Brothers Kishore Maneklal Premchand and Ramesh Maneklal Premchand both studied at the School during this period.

Their father, Sir Kikabhai Premchand (1883-1953) was an Indian financier and co-founder of the firm, Premchand Roychand & Sons. In 1930, Sir Premchand was knighted for his work on the Round Table Conference and the formation of India’s Constitution.

The Rishi Madlani Award is awarded to the undergraduate student with the highest-marked paper in Macroeconomic Principles (EC210). The winner receives a cheque for £100. 

The Departmental Introduction to Econometrics Prize is awarded for best performance by a BSc Economics Department student in Introduction to Econometrics (EC220). The winner receives £200.

The Departmental Principles of Econometrics Prize is awarded for best performance by a BSc Economics Department student in Principles of Econometrics (EC221). The winner receives £200.

The Economics Examiners Prize is awarded to students in the first and second year of the Department of Economics undergraduate degree for outstanding merit in Economics papers. The winner receives £200.

The Ely Devons Prize is awarded for outstanding performance in the MSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics Programme. The winner receives £200.

In 1959, Ely Devons (1913-1967) was appointed to the chair of commerce at the London School of Economics. In 1965, his title changed to chair of economics. Devons was largely responsible for the emerging MSc degrees in economics and econometrics at the time, helping to raise funds for graduate fellowships. Throughout his time at the School, Devons acted as a member of the Local Government Commission for England and a consultant to the British and foreign governments.

Before joining the School, Devons was chair of applied economics at the University of Manchester, where he graduated with first-class honours in the school of economics, politics and modern history. After completing his masters, Devons spent a considerable proportion of his career in the public sector as a statistician. He worked as an economic assistant to the Joint Committee of Cotton Trades Organization and a statistician for the Central Economic Information Service, which later developed into the economic section of the war cabinet secretariat and the Central Statistical Office.

(Source: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)

The winner of the Sir John Hicks Prize for outstanding performance in the MRes Economics examinations is awarded £500. 

The winner of the Sir John Hicks Prize for an Outstanding Doctoral Thesis is awarded £1000.