About EFI
EFI is a fast-growing and high impact campaign, now in 11 countries, dedicated to inspiring interest in the learning and teaching of economics. All our activities are funded by the generosity of private and corporate donors. EFI is registered in New Jersey, USA as a non-profit organization 501(c)(3).
Milestones
Economics Olympiad
International Final Round held in Greece. Students from EFI countries awarded 3 gold, 7 silver, 14 bronze medals
Teacher Training
189 teachers across Georgia, Kosovo and Ukraine participate in first year of intensive professional development workshops
Economics Olympiad
Preparatory bootcamp held in Georgia for national finalists from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine
Teacher training
Train-the-trainer workshop in Prague equips 15 trainers from Georgia, Kosovo and Ukraine to lead teacher training courses. The workshop is designed and led by US pedagogical experts and academic economists
Economics Olympiad
Two-day preparatory “bootcamp” convened for national finalists of Economics Olympiad from Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia
Economics Olympiad
Launch of school rounds across all 10 EFI partners countries
Kazakhstan
EFI convenes 1st Annual Forum on Economic & Financial Literacy in Central Asia at Narxoz University in Almaty, Kazakhstan
Economics Olympiad
End of school rounds. Almost 20,000 high schools students take part
Montenegro
Institute for Strategic Studies & Prognoses at University of Donja Gorica joins as country partner in Montenegro
Our Beginnings
EFI was formed with a mandate to translate “Common Sense Economics” into the languages of Eastern Europe and Central Asia and to make the book freely available to anyone wanting to explore the basic principles of economics.
EFI Today
Today, EFI manages and coordinates a network of partners in 11 countries. We bring together our decades of institutional and personal expertise to deliver high impact and cost-effective activities that inspire interest in learning and teaching economics among young people and their teachers.
Board of Directors
Kathleen Mone
With a Master's Degree in Public Affairs from Columbia, Kathleen is a financial professional with over 40 years’ experience in the public education sector. She served as Unit Budget Director for Manhattan and the Bronx at the New York City Department of Education, as Business Administrator at a number of charter schools, and as Finance Manager for Academic Affairs at City University of New York.
Michael Markovitz
Michael holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Chicago and founded the first freestanding doctoral program in professional psychology in the US. He has lectured at Northwestern University and authored the BBP Guide To Human Resource Management. Michael developed Argosy University and Yorkville University, including the Toronto Film School. He is Chairman of Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School and founder of ALPESE/PrepJet, a test-prep company. He has served on the University of Chicago’s Visiting Committee and Eckerd College’s Board of Trustees.
Randall K. Filer
A Princeton Ph.D., Randall is Professor of Economics at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Visiting Professor of Economics at CERGE-EI in Prague and Board Director of the CERGE-EI Foundation. He is a member of the Governing and Academic boards of the International School of Economics in Tbilisi, Georgia. He has been a visiting scholar at the Institute of Economics, Zagreb, and a Research Fellow of IZA (Bonn) and CESifo (Munich). Randall is a co-author of the regionalized edition of "Common Sense Economics".
Renita Esayian
Holding an M.B.A. from Stanford, Renita is a retired financial professional. After several corporate treasury and investor relations positions in the United States and London, she became Vice President of Investor Relations at Hasbro. Before retiring, she was a senior financial writer with The Vanguard Group.