Economic Assessment Centre (EAC) Guide
The Economic Assessment Centre (EAC) is a half-day Assessment Centre to assess a candidate’s economics skills against set criteria
The Economic Assessment Centre (EAC) is designed to assess a candidate’s economics skills against set criteria.
It assesses graduates applying for the GES Fast Stream Scheme and the Assistant Economist Scheme.
There are 4 separate economics exercises to complete at the EAC:
You will complete the EAC virtually from home, completing all work on a computer or mobile device
You will be assessed against 3 competencies throughout the EAC:
- Knowledge of Economics
- Application of Economics
- Communication.
You must pass all three competencies to be successful.
Preparation
The EAC assesses your knowledge of economics and how you apply economics to policy questions. Your assessors are looking for a firm grasp of the economic fundamentals and the ability to take things back to first principles. They want to see that you can apply the fundamentals to a range of topics, including some that may be new or unfamiliar. You are not going to be assessed on obscure techniques on the day.
Candidates are advised to ensure they are familiar with the content covered in introductory economic textbooks. Some useful recommended reading includes:
- Introductory Economics by Michael Parkin
- Economics by Begg, Vernasca, Fischer and Dornbusch, Economics by Sloman, Garatt and Guest
- A free open access textbook ‘The Economy’ is available online at https://www.core-econ.org/the-economy
- For exploration of intermediate macroeconomics look to Blanchard, or Carlin or Soskice.
- Introductory econometrics by Wooldridge
- Core intermediate microeconomics such as Varian or Nicholson or Pindyck and Rubenfield
Of all these books, the first-year introductory texts and intermediate micro are the most important for EAC preparation. Candidates will then be asked to apply this knowledge to policy questions. For example:
- you may have memorised the formula for price elasticity of demand but what is the formula when elasticity is applied to the length of an elephant’s trunk with respect to the pull of an alligator?
- You can define opportunity cost but can you apply this to an asset?
- You may know MC=MR as a profit maximising condition but what if there are no costs?
- Can you draw on economics to shed light on the pros and cons of charging for entry to museums?
- Should water be metered?
- Why don’t lampposts have slot meters?
- What economic concepts are relevant to a smoking ban or the provision of early childcare?
Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) is used extensively in government but for EAC you are expected only to understand its roots in welfare economics rather than use advanced CBA techniques. So be well versed in market failure, deviations from efficiency and distributional concerns that could lead to policy interventions.
While at EAC
Below are some useful tips to consider when attending the EAC:
- think in advance about where you will take the assessment, so you won’t be worried about interruptions. Do test your device and Wi-Fi connection so you know it all works.
- stay relaxed and try to enjoy the day. This is a great chance to showcase your skills
- best to treat it as a formal interview, speak clearly and engage in conversations.
- be yourself. There is no such thing as a typical economist and we want you to be you
- assessors can only give credit for what you say and do. They are not trying to trip you up; they want you to do well and help you demonstrate your capability
- go into each exercise with a positive frame of mind. It can be hard to do well in every exercise. It is hard to do well in every exercise. Also, you may not be the best judge of your own performance so don’t get knocked off course. The process is designed so that, if you do less well in one exercise, you have a chance to perform better in another
- read the exercise instructions and follow them very carefully. If you are unsure of something, please ask before the exercise begins. Do not feel embarrassed about doing so
At the EAC
The Economics Assessment Centre takes place under examination conditions. This means you must not have any materials (books, mobile phones or papers) near you when you do the EAC. You must not consult any books/internet sites between completing your written economics exercises and your interview. Any candidate found doing so will be disqualified.
Sections
1. Technical report.
As part of the EAC you will be asked to produce a piece of written work on an assigned technical question. The exact question and useful sources for you to draw from will be sent to you 1 week before the interviews to enable you to prepare and research your answer. We expect this research to take no more than 10 hours. The completed report should be no longer than two pages in size 12 font. If the report is longer than this, the additional pages will not be marked by the assessors.
Before the EAC, you should practice writing your report so that you can maximise the use of the 30 minutes you will be allowed for this exercise.
The question is shared with you 7 days before your EAC. In the technical report you are encouraged to ‘showcase’ your knowledge, technical grasp and understanding of the relevant economics. For example, you will need to demonstrate that you understand and can apply the relevant economic principles, theory and evidence around the specific technical question. You may set the scene with memorised facts and statistics, but it is not a good use of your time to do much of this. Concentrate instead on communicating how economic theory and evidence can inform an assessment of the potential impacts of the policy within the topic. Remember - you will have just 30 minutes to write this report at EAC.
2. Short answer questions
The SAQs are there to test the breadth of your economics and can be on a wide range of issues. Your overall preparation for the EAC will help you. A sample set of questions is available here – but be careful, these will not be the exact questions you will be facing on the day but give an idea of the form of question and expected detail of the answers.
At EAC, there will be set a set of 10 questions covering macroeconomics, microeconomics and might also include econometrics and/or an international trade question. One question may be quantitative in nature, in which you are asked to work something out.
You should attempt to answer all ten questions, but as you have only 30 minutes overall your answers must be brief. You are not expected to produce full and detailed answers to each question in the time allocated so you should aim for clear and concise answers that demonstrate understanding.
Our top tips for this exercise are:
Remember the golden rules: breathe and read the questions carefully.
A good strategy is to scan all the questions through once and start with those that you can answer most easily and then move onto areas where you may need to think more. This should help you avoid ‘getting stuck’ on a particular question or writing too much for one answer.
Above all, don’t be discouraged if there are things you do not know, just press onto the next question and build a level of answer for all the questions as far as you can.
The pass mark is around 40 per cent and you will have a further opportunity to demonstrate the breadth of your knowledge during the interview as some of the topics and questions in the SAQ will be revisited.
3. Presentation
For this exercise you are asked to turn your technical report into a presentation, answering the same economics question but translating your report into a presentation for a non-economist audience. You should practice doing this before your EAC.
The presentation is at the start of your interview and should last for 10 minutes. You will be stopped if you over run. It is an oral presentation and you do not need to prepare any handouts or visuals. The interview panel will comprise of two economists. In most cases, both will be existing members of the GES but in some cases, one will be an academic economist or a former member of the GES. For the purposes of the presentation, you should assume that the audience are not economists and therefore avoid using overly technical language or assuming a prior knowledge of economics. Concentrate on conveying, to a non-economist, how economic analysis might shed light on the issue and topic. You should also capture some of the main, but again certainly not all, empirical findings. Simple analogies or metaphors might assist in giving intuitive insight into economic concepts that would otherwise be inaccessible for non-economists. There are some marks for good presentation style.
After the presentation, your assessors will then ask you questions on your presentation and reports. You may answer all verbal questions assuming interviewers are economists.
Remember: There should be a clear distinction between the technical report and your presentation as they are intended for different audiences. Do not merely read out your technical report for your presentation.
4. Interview Questions
This will follow on directly from the presentation and you should answer all questions in your interview assuming your assessors are economists. The will cover the technical report and presentation topic, where the questions will focus on the economics within that topic, the short answer questions paper (including perhaps additional questions on related topics), your strongest area of economics and, for Assistant Economist Scheme candidates, a competency-based interview covering behaviours and strengths. The technical presentation and interview will take an hour in total for all candidates. The behaviours and strengths part will take an additional 30 minutes, but this is only for Assistant Economist Scheme candidates, not for those candidates whose EAC is part of their fast stream assessment. In the fast stream, broader non-technical areas are tested at the Fast Stream Assessment Centre.
Your strongest area of economics
You will have been asked to state your ‘strongest area of economics’ in your application form and this topic will be used as part of your interview within the Economic Assessment Centre. Your EAC assessors will ask you further questions to explore your knowledge of the topic. You will have picked your strongest area from a topic list which will be sent to you with other candidate information for the specific scheme you apply for. An example list is below (in alphabetical order)
- Behavioural economics
- Cost-benefit analysis
- Development economics
- Economic growth (including productivity)
- Environmental economics
- Financial economics (money and banking, not inflation)
- Fiscal policy
- Game theory
- Health economics
- Industrial economics
- Inflation / monetary policy
- International trade
- Labour markets
- Market failure
- Taxation (not fiscal policy)
These are typical economic subjects, many of which you will have covered in your degree. You are being tested on your understanding of economic fundamentals, with questions covering the economic theory and application of economics so make sure you have covered both theory and application in your preparation. You might need to demonstrate your ability to think things through from first principles. There may also be a question on a topical economic issue.
Need help?
Please email us at gesrrecruitment@hmtreasury.gov.uk if you have any concerns regarding the above information. For example, if you don’t have a computer, or a quiet place to take your assessments then please get in touch as early as possible. We are here to help you through the process and can offer advice in this area.
Updates to this page
Published 23 September 2016Last updated 12 February 2025 + show all updates
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EAC guidance has been updated.
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Removed requirement that at least one SAQ feature International Trade
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Clarify that competency section is not for Fast Stream candidates
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Removed video
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Remove references to fast stream and add reference to assistant economist scheme
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First published.