Global Youth Business Index: Business Readiness Survey

This survey is part of an academic research study measuring business readiness among high-school students across several countries. It takes about 10–13 minutes.

Your answers will be used for research, including an academic report. No name, email, or other identifying information is collected or shared, and your response cannot be traced back to you individually.

If you are not comfortable having your answers used for research, simply close this page now instead of continuing. There is no other form to fill out.

What country is your school in?

Enter the access code for this survey.

What grade / year are you in?

Grade 10 or below Grade 11 Grade 12 Grade 13 / final year of secondary school Not sure / my school uses a different system

Which of these best describes how your school is funded/run?

Government / public school Private school Other

Which curriculum does your school mainly follow?

A national/local curriculum IB (International Baccalaureate) Cambridge (IGCSE/A-Levels) Another international curriculum Not sure

Have you taken a business, economics, or finance class at school (including as part of a broader subject)?

Yes No Not sure

Roughly how many books are there in your home? (a rough estimate is fine)

0–10 11–25 26–100 101–200 More than 200

What is the highest level of education either of your parents/guardians completed?

Secondary school or less Some college/university Bachelor's degree Graduate degree Not sure / prefer not to say

Does your family own or run a business?

Yes No Not sure

Does either of your parents/guardians work in a role that involves making financial or business decisions (for example running a business, working in finance or banking, or a management role)?

Yes No Not sure

Source: GYBI background/covariate design; items are study-specific context variables rather than a published scale.

Each of these describes a real business situation. Pick the strongest option. There's one best answer per scenario.

A cafe owner is deciding whether to add a delivery service. Delivery would bring in about 60 extra orders per week at an average of $10 each. The delivery platform charges 20% of each order. The owner would hire a part-time driver at $200 per week. The cafe's kitchen already runs at full capacity during the lunch rush, which is when nearly all delivery orders would arrive. Should the owner add the delivery service?

Yes. It's profitable even after the platform fee and the driver's wage. Yes. The extra orders build a customer base for the future. No, unless kitchen capacity at lunch can be increased first. No. A fixed weekly wage is too risky against variable revenue.

A subscription software company has held steady at 5,000 paying subscribers for six months. Satisfaction is high, monthly churn is under one per cent, and the product is used daily. Paid advertising, which drove early growth, stopped converting profitably in the spring. The company sells only to independent veterinary clinics, of which there are about 6,000 in the country. Eight months of cash remain. What is the best next move?

Sharply increase advertising spend to restart growth. Launch a referral programme using the satisfied existing base. Extend the product to an adjacent market with a comparable workflow. Cut prices to attract the remaining clinics.

Business X: revenue one million dollars, net profit forty thousand, no debt. It has served the same single client, a regional supermarket chain, for three years on a rolling thirty-day agreement. Business Y: revenue five million, net profit fifty thousand, two million of debt due next year, revenue spread across 300 customers. Which is healthier?

X, stronger margin and no debt. Y, despite the debt, because it isn't dependent on one customer. Equally healthy, since profits are similar. X, because debt is always the greater danger.

Your largest client provides 60% of revenue and demands a 30% price reduction, saying they will move to a competitor otherwise. Losing them would be survivable for about a year. The master agreement runs for another 30 months and carries an early-termination penalty equal to six months of fees. What is the soundest response?

Accept the cut to preserve the relationship. Decline the cut, point to the agreement, and diversify regardless. Offer a smaller cut in exchange for a longer term. Match the cut only in return for exclusivity.

Source: GYBI scenario core, first four items. The bounded-awareness design principle, and the first item above (the cafe scenario), came from direct correspondence with Prof. Max Bazerman (Harvard Business School), who reviewed that item and said he liked it as written. The other three items were written on the same principle and shared with him; he gave one general, positive comment on the set as a whole rather than reviewing each item individually, and was not able to review the final planned set before this lock. Each item's correct answer turns on a single fact stated plainly but without emphasis, a test of bounded awareness rather than arithmetic.

Which would you prefer?

$200 for sure A 30% chance of winning $100

This next set is a bit like a quiz. It isn't designed to trick you. If you think you know the answer, you probably do. If you don't know, just say so.

Five brothers are given a gift of $1,000 in total to share equally between them. Imagine the brothers have to wait one year to get their share, and inflation stays at 5% during that year. In one year's time, will they be able to buy:

More with their share of the money than they could today The same amount Less than they could buy today It depends on the types of things they want to buy

You lend $25 to a friend one evening and get $25 back the next day. How much interest (or profit) have you received on this loan?

Imagine that someone puts $100 into a savings account with a guaranteed interest rate of 2% per year, with no fees and no tax. They don't make any further payments into this account and they don't withdraw any money. How much would be in the account at the end of the first year, once the interest payment is made?

And how much would be in that same account at the end of five years?

More than $110 Exactly $110 Less than $110 Impossible to tell from the information given

True or false: An investment with a high return is likely to be high risk.

True False Don't know

True or false: High inflation means that the cost of living is increasing rapidly.

True False Don't know

True or false: It is usually possible to reduce the risk of investing in the stock market by buying a wide range of stocks and shares.

True False Don't know

When interest rates rise, what will typically happen to bond prices?

They will rise They will fall They will stay the same There is no relationship between bond prices and interest rates

Source: OECD/INFE Toolkit for Measuring Financial Literacy, Inclusion and Well-Being 2026, Section 3.1.5, items QK3–QK8. National adaptation note: the inflation rate in the first question is set from the country given earlier, using that country's most recent published consumer price inflation figure. OECD's own guidance says to substitute the country's actual current rate before fielding and record what was used, which matters here since this survey runs across several countries with different rates.

Do you make day-to-day decisions about your own money?

Yes No

Do you do any of the following for yourself or your own money? (Select all that apply.)

Make a plan to manage your income and expenses Keep a note of your spending Keep money for bills separate from day-to-day spending money Make a note of upcoming bills so you don't miss them Use a banking app or money-management tool to track expenses Set up automatic payments for regular expenses None of the above

In the past 12 months, have you (personally) been saving money in any of the following ways, whether or not you still have the money? (Select all that apply.)

Cash at home or in your wallet A savings/deposit account Giving money to family to save on your behalf An informal savings club Stocks, bonds, shares, mutual funds, or ETFs A non-mandatory pension/retirement fund Crypto-assets Some other way None of the above

Sometimes people find that their income doesn't quite cover their expenses. In the last 12 months, has this happened to you, personally?

Yes No Not applicable: I don't have personal income

If you lost your main source of income today, what would you do to cover your living expenses?

Draw on savings, cut back spending, sell something, or make an insurance claim Work extra, claim government support, or ask family/friends for help (no repayment) Borrow from family, friends, or an employer Use an existing overdraft or credit card Take out a new loan (personal, payday, or informal) Miss or delay payments Something else Don't know

Imagine that today you discover that most of your personal belongings at home have been damaged. Which one of these best describes what you would do?

Claim insurance on all or part of it Take out a loan to replace things Use some personal or household savings Ask family or friends to lend me money or belongings Seek support from government authorities I've never thought about how I'd cope I don't have/own anything of value Other

How often does this apply to you? (1 = never, 5 = always)

Before I buy something, I carefully consider whether I can afford it

Source: OECD/INFE Toolkit for Measuring Financial Literacy, Inclusion and Well-Being 2026, Section 3.1.2, items QF1_a, QF2, QF3, QF11, QF12, QF14, QS1, QS2. The QF12 options are OECD's own permitted simplification to category headings rather than the full interviewer-read sub-list.

A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?

In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?

Suppose all adults were asked to indicate their favorite flavor of ice cream. What percentage do you think would say...

Vanilla Chocolate

On what date does "early June" become "mid June"?

In an English dictionary, approximately what percentage of seven-letter words would have the following forms:

_ _ _ _ _ N _ _ _ _ _ I N G

Source: Meyer, Attali, Bar-Hillel, Frederick & Kahneman (2024), PNAS 121(49) e2409191121, Table 2.

Thank you. Your response has been recorded.

Global Youth Business Index 2026