Fed Challenge
Each year, a group of selected students enrolled in Economics 333: Fed Challenge Preparation (spring semester) and Economics 334: Fed Challenge Competition (fall semester) participate in the Fed Challenge Program. Students also serve as macroeconomic advisors to the Student Managed Investment Fund managers as part of a top-down investment process.
Students in the seminars operate as a “shadow” committee of the Fed Open Market Committee by analyzing economic conditions and recommending appropriate Fed policy. They make presentations of their economic outlook to managers in the Student Managed Investment Fund program on a regular basis.
In the fall semester, students enter the Fifth District Fed Challenge academic competition for college students sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. In the Fed Challenge competition, student teams analyze economic conditions and recommend an appropriate course for monetary policy. The teams make presentations before a panel of Federal Reserve Bank economists. The teams must also be prepared to answer a variety of questions from the judges about both their research and general Federal Reserve information.
The Fed Challenge seminars and program activities provide a framework to develop research, group dynamics, presentation, and critical thinking skills of students.
The general timing of participating in the Fed Challenge is as follows:
- Students enroll in Economics 333: Preparation in the spring semester.
- Students enroll in Economics 334: Competition in the fall semester.
- Students participate in the Fed Challenge Competition at the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank in November.
- The district winner proceeds to the national competition held at the Board of Governors in Washington D.C.
Visit the Federal Reserve Bank website for more information.
Contact
Dean Croushore, Ph.D.
The Rigsby Fellow & Associate Professor of Economics
Robert Dolan, Ph.D.
David Meade White Distinguished Teaching Fellow & Professor of Economics