"Monthly payments are suddenly like a first date—unforgettable, but really expensive."

This line comes from a podcast featuring Noee-Charlotte, Raphael, and Quirin from Class 8a at Phorms Campus Munich to 4th place out of over 750 entries in this year’s nationwide econo=me competition “Economics & Finance 2024/25.”

They won over the jury with a well-researched, creatively produced, and humorous entry on the topic: “Good Debt—Bad Debt?”

Their scenario: A fictional family that gets itself deeply into debt through loans, installment purchases, and “buy now, pay later” orders.
Their goal: to raise awareness among their audience and make them laugh (and think).

Why students should engage with economics:

Decisions about consumption, saving, or debt affect young people earlier than many realize. This makes it all the more important for them to learn to understand financial concepts.

The econo=me competition —initiated by the Flossbach von Storch Foundation under the patronage of the Deutsche Bundesbank—gives young people exactly this opportunity.

This year, students across Germany explored the consequences of private and public debt, sought solutions, and presented their findings in various formats.

Learning Through Personal Responsibility

We support project-based learning because when students conduct independent research, work creatively, and take on shared responsibility, they develop a sense of self-efficacy.

For our winning team, this meant:
research, concept development, scriptwriting, audio recording, and editing—all on their own.
The result was an audio experience that impressed both the jury and us.

With their podcast, Raphael, Noee-Charlotte, and Quirin demonstrated that economic topics can also be presented in a creative and humorous way.

You can find the podcast here.