How a 19-year-old economist is turning theory into real-world simulations

Chandrini Sugumar sees an economic question in a cup of coffee, a desirable brand and even the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. For the 19-year-old BSc (Hons) Economics student at De Montfort University Dubai, the subject belongs in the choices people make, the systems shaping those choices and the consequences that follow. Her mission is to help other students recognise it there too.

As President of the university’s Rethinking Economics Society, Sugumar has created initiatives that move learning beyond graphs, formulas and theories. “Economics has a character of its own,” she says. “It is present in almost every small decision we make and in almost every issue around us.”

Sugumar also explores this approach through articles on LinkedIn, examining subjects such as artificial intelligence, climate change and consumer behaviour through an economic lens. Carbon emissions, for example, raise questions about externalities, taxation, incentives and responsibility for environmental damage.

“The gap I wanted my initiatives to address was a lack of opportunities to see economics happening around us,” she says. “Economics is about asking why something happened, who was affected, what incentives existed and what could happen next.”

Her Economics Pitch Programme asks students to develop ideas capable of addressing future challenges. One focus has been AI and economic resilience, covering employment, productivity, taxation, inequality, regulation and education. Participants proposed an AI-resilience framework based on continuous reskilling and incentives encouraging businesses to use technology alongside human labour.

Students then had to examine the proposal’s risks, unintended consequences and prospects over the next five or ten years. “I wanted participants to think ahead rather than only analyse problems that already exist,” Sugumar says.

Her Economic Crash Simulator places them under greater pressure. During the 20-minute exercise, participants confront a fictional company suffering financial losses, operational strain and wider social consequences. They identify immediate threats, set priorities and make decisions with incomplete information.

The simulation teaches risk management and economic trade-offs while showing how a financially sensible short-term choice can create social or operational problems later. “During a crisis, delaying every decision until all the information is available is often not an option,” she says.

Model United Nations provided another arena for her ideas. Sugumar has participated in more than 50 MUN conferences across India, Kuwait and the UAE, including Harvard Model United Nations India. She has served as an executive and chairperson, receiving several honours, including a Best Chair Award.

Drawing on that experience, she developed an economics-focused MUN conference comprising 13 specialised committees. A High-Level Economic Crisis Committee confronts a futuristic depression-scale emergency, while a historical committee examines the industrial production, resources, trade and financial realities of the Second World War. Her signature creation, the United Nations Office on Outer Economics, explores space resources, ownership, commercialisation and the risk of deepening inequality between nations.

“I wanted to create committees where students had to adapt, think critically and deal with problems they could not solve simply by arriving with a prepared speech,” she says.

Sugumar has also founded a student-led logistics and event-supply business after witnessing the combined cost of awards, certificates, gavels and customised merchandise. It provides schools, universities and student organisations with quality supplies at accessible prices. Schools, she says, have responded positively to both the pricing and quality.

She is candid about wanting the venture to generate profit and become sustainable. “I do not see profitability and social impact as opposites,” she says. Her long-term ambition is to channel its experience and resources into free learning initiatives, mentorship, academic events and partnerships. “Everyone has the right to be educated, regardless of their financial circumstances.”