Students Win Fed Challenge

Economics professor Martin S. Feldstein ’61 might have been passed over for Chairman of the Federal Reserve in 2005, but five undergraduates on Tuesday won first place in the national Federal Reserve Challenge Competition—the first time that Harvard has ever made it to the finals, let alone taken the top prize.

The Harvard Fed Challenge Team beat out the SUNY Geneseo team, who came in second, and the three-time returning champions from Northwestern University, who finished third.

The Harvard team—who won the competition by arguing for their decision to hold the Federal Funds rate constant—was awarded a $25,000 prize from the Moody’s Foundation.

“I want to stress how absolutely delighted everyone in the economics department is with the incredibly strong performance of our students,” said economics professor Benjamin M. Friedman ’66, the team’s faculty advisor.

The Harvard Fed team, which is made up of captain Troy C. Murrell ’09, Colin J. Motley ’10, Akeel Rangwala ’11, William C. Schaub ’11, and Scott R. Vautour ’10, started training for the Fed Challenge approximately two weeks into this school year. The team met two to three times a week for several hours each meeting in preparation for the event.

According to Motley, the monetary prize will be split between the members of the team, the Harvard Fed Challenge organization, and the economics department. The five members of the group, plus team coordinator Stephanie H. Lo ’10, will get $15,000 of the prize.

The Fed Challenge is an economics competition sponsored by the Federal Reserve. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke ’75, who attended the competition, praised the competitors in his keynote speech and said that the Fed Challenge is the best way for students to learn about the Fed’s role in setting U.S. monetary policy.

A panel of judges made up of Senior Vice Presidents of the Federal Reserve grilled each team with questions after their presentations.

The teams were judged based on their knowledge of monetary policy, the quality of their analysis, and the evidence of their teamwork and cooperation.

“Everyone came prepared and ready to rock,” said Murrell, the team’s captain, who has been on the team since freshman year.

Motley, the other returning member of the team, described the process of preparation in three steps: data accumulation, data interpretation, and—most importantly—“understanding the theory behind it all.”

“The third step is really important in the question and answer period,” Motley said. “This was where the judges said Harvard really stood out.”

“I am absolutely thrilled that these very fine students had the opportunity to represent Harvard University,” Friedman said. “This clearly reflects not just on them but on the department as well, and the department could not be more pleased.”