Fed Challenge

Students in my Monetary Policy class participate in the College Fed Challenge. This is a competition, organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in which teams of students prepare a presentation that analyzes the current state of the economy and makes a recommendation for monetary policy. After the presentation, students answer tough question from Federal Reserve economists, financial professionals, and economics professors from other colleges and universities.

The entire class participates, with some students on the “travel team” who are responsible for delivering the presentation and answering questions and the other students forming a “support team” that helps to research and prepare the presentation.

In Fall 2011, the Hamilton team advanced to the final round at the New York Federal Reserve for the first time, earning an honorable mention and a special award for teamwork. Our best performance to date was in Fall 2012 when the Hamilton team took second place in the New York Federal Reserve district.