When Jaroslav Filinger joined our team in the Czech Republic, he was one of our youngest volunteers. Almost three years later, he is still a high school student. Despite that, he has already collected multiple awards for his work and knowledge in the field of economics.
Jaroslav’s journey began with participating in debate tournaments and organising events in his school. His introduction to economics came from his father, himself a classical liberal with a PhD in economics, and with whom Jaroslav started visiting conferences, and in the evening discussing latest articles and debating economic policy.
In Jaroslav’s words, what he likes about economics is discussing the far reaching consequences of actions and policies, and finding explanations for patterns and behaviours.
“I don’t always find a good argument, but that motivates me even more to look deeper and learn more in the process.”
Because of this, Jaroslav got interested in the Economic Olympiad right as he became eligible by starting high school. The first year he entered the competition, which takes place in four rounds – school, regional, national, and international levels, he was among the youngest participants, and in his own words, didn’t give himself much chance.
Despite that, he passed the school level and progressed into the regional one. “The official environment of the town hall where this round took place, and the high number of students made me quite nervous,” recalls Jaroslav. “But when I opened the test, I started feeling much better, especially thanks to one specific essay question on the gold standard. As a Bitcoiner, I had a lot to say there.”
In the end, Jaroslav had the second highest score in the country on the regional level, and continued into the national round, where he finished in the eighth place from all of the Czech Republic in his first year of participation.
When Jaroslav’ returned for his second year in 2024, he passed smoothly through the first levels of the Olympiad, scored third in the national level, and progressed to the international round, which took place directly in Olympia in Greece, where he finished seventh in the international round out of the tens of thousands of high schoolers who participated that year in 18 countries.
Most recently, Jaroslav also participated in the Olympiad in 2025, when he progressed again to the national level and won the side-award sponsored by the Czech Insurance Association for best answer to an essay question in the finale.
However, Jaroslav uses his knowledge for more than competitions, but also for educating others about sound economics and liberty overall.
In July, he participated in our Studio Liberty course in Lviv, Ukraine, and has been behind many infographics produced by our Czech team, especially focused on analysing the country’s new government’s political manifesto. He is also involved in the team’s upcoming publication analysing the last three Nobel Prizes in Economic Sciences from the viewpoint of a liberal of a liberal economist.
And just this September, Jaroslav took the side of Bitcoin on a panel of young economists at Chaincamp, the largest Czech-language Bitcoin conference, against two opponents in the discussion about Bitcoin’s monetary properties.
Speaking about his niche, Jaroslav says: “I am most interested in the Austrian school, and so I most appreciate authors like Hayek, Böhm-Bawerk and most of all Mises, but I also like the Friedmans – both Milton and David. As I am thinking about what I want to be writing, I now lean more towards contemporary authors, most recently McCloskey.”
The international Economic Olympiad competition is also founded by a Students For Liberty alumna.
