I don't agree with Karl Marx about everything, but I do agree with him that economics is at the foundation of society. So if you understand economics, you've gone a long way toward understanding how society works. In fact, all the big current problems of today including climate change, war, green energy, the effects of artificial intelligence, inequality, are fundamentally economic problems. And the solutions to these problems will in large part be economic. By participating in this Olympiad, you probably already recognize that economics is a critically important subject. Let me congratulate you on that and also urge you to learn as much as you can in the coming few days. In fact, let me encourage you to delve even deeper into economics in your future studies. It's a fascinating and important subject

Economics and the rigorous quantitative approach that it brings to our changing world is set to become even more important as we struggle with major challenges related to climate change, inequality, adaptation to new technologies, and social and political change. I'm so happy to see so many young, talented people take up the mantle of economics.

Economics is a terrific thing to study: it can actually prescribe solutions to people's problems, not just study mistakes. You're really on the right path in getting into it.
I wish you all the best in this very exciting Olympiad, and enjoy yourselves.