Oxbridge Economics Interview Questions

By far the best way to prepare for an Oxbridge Economics interview is through mock interviews. As well as giving you general interview experience, they also focus your mind on the unique types of questions asked at an Oxford Economics and Management or Cambridge Economics interview, training yourself to think in the way required for the real thing.

Below, we have compiled a list of questions of the type you can expect in your Oxbridge Economics interview. You can use these just to give yourself an awareness of what's expected, plan out answers on your own, or give them to a teacher, friend, or family member, and ask them to conduct a mock interview with you. As you will have separate interviews for each of the three subjects, these interview questions are categorised by subject as well.

Note: If you are doing mock interviews with us, we recommend waiting until afterwards to look through these questions, so that you aren't asked questions you have already prepared for (as you won't have that opportunity for the real thing!). If you haven't booked any mock interviews yet, you can do so here.

Economics Interview Questions

1. Imagine you are at a beach holiday resort and people are relaxing on the beach. Assume they are randomly distributed and the population density is equal anywhere on the beach. There are two ice-cream makers with their vans. Assuming people go to the van closest to them for ice-creams, how and where should they locate themselves to achieve the best outcome / get maximum market share? Here’s a pen and a piece of paper, please draw a diagram and demonstrate.

2. Follow-up questions: If one van’s location is fixed at the centre, how should the other move strategically to maximum his market share? If one’s market share’s more than the other, should the other move to other location to change this or stay where he is? Will both two vans be constantly on the move to compete for market share? If so, or if not, is there ever a point that the market share obtained by both ice-cream shops are equal? Now, the local authority steps in. It has the power to regulate the operation of ice- cream shops and it can fix their locations. Where should the local authority fix these two vans and why?

3. You are an economic consultant to a school. If the majority of students pass their exams, the school receives a subsidy from the government. When teachers put in effort, the chance of the majority passing is 3/5. When teachers do not put in effort, the chance of the majority passing is 2/5. The cost of effort in monetary terms is $2 and if a teacher quits at the beginning of the year they can earn $10 from their contract. What are the flaws in the practicality of this model?

4. If a petrol station, on a road, is equidistant from two towns, where should a second petrol station be built? What about a third?

5. I am going to offer you £100. You have to offer part of this £100 to someone else. If they don’t accept the offer, you get nothing. How much will you offer?

6. If you had infinite money, how could you keep the price of a Big Mac from McDonald’s at £1? How could you keep it at £20?

7. You have 50 red balls, 50 blue balls, and two cups. By placing each ball in one of the two cups, how could you maximise the chance that someone who picks a ball at random from one of the two cups will pick a red ball? What is the probability of them picking a red ball?

8. You have a sum of money and someone asks you to invest it in one of two banks. One bank offers rates of 3% for the first year, 4% for the second, and 5% for the third. The other bank offers rates of 5% for the first, 4% for the second, and 3% for the third. Which one do you choose?

9. A group of people are asked to guess a number between 0 and 100. The winner is the person whose guess is closest to ⅔ of the average of all guesses. What is the likely outcome?

10. Imagine a room of 100 people, where 99% are right-handed. How many right-handed people must leave for the percentage to fall to 98%?

11. Should the main objective of a business be to make money?

12. Does the welfare state trap people into poverty?

13. Are there too many people in the world?

14. Would raising the minimum wage increase unemployment? Would it be worth it anyway?

15. Why is income per head between 50 and 100 times larger in the United States than in countries such as Burundi and Malawi?

16. What is the monetary value of your desk?

17. Are large or small companies more successful?

18. How does the Phillips curve arise?

19. Why is deflation a scare to the UK?

20. Would it be feasible to have an economy entirely based on the service sector?

21. What are the consequences of changing interest rates?

22. What are the effects of increasing taxes on the rich?

23. How big should Google be allowed to get before it is broken up?

24. How do interest rates affect exchange rates?

25. A girl in a small town wishes to sell a painting – will she earn more revenue through sealed bids or raffle tickets?

26. Should everyone go to university?

27. Why are some countries still poor?

28. Does democracy lead to wealth? Or is it the other way around?

29. Why are economists interested in education?

30. In what circumstances should we put a monetary value on human life?

And that's all of them! Hopefully, you now have a sense of the types of questions you might be asked. To be even better prepared, try answering these and other questions with our tutors - you can book your mock interviews here.