Econ majors complete two-month long Fed Challenge
Economics majors Edward Ding, Alex Feye, Paul McDougald, Christian Moran, and Karl Wirth have just completed a two-month long Fed Challenge. The Fed Challenge involves students studying the state of the U.S. economy, and making forecasts and policy recommendations (on video), all modeled after real world Federal Reserve research and policy analysis, culminating in the highly anticipated Federal Open Market Committee monetary policy announcements.
Professor Mario Crucini served as an informal mentor on a few late night sessions and Q&A via email. Professor Rupi Saggi (our Director of Undergraduate Studies) joined the final Q&A practice session prior to the second stage.
On the basis of the video submissions by 85 schools, the Vanderbilt Economics team made it to the semi-finals of 18 teams, at which point they were invited to a live Q&A with FRS staff economists. Dartmouth College took first place in the final competition while St. Lawrence University and Princeton took second and third place.
The Economics Department is very proud of our team’s accomplishments! These 5 students took real initiative and sought out faculty assistance at critical points. This is a very challenging competition and dovetails well with the Department’s courses in intermediate macroeconomics and money and banking.