VCU wins Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond College Fed Challenge Competition

One of two student teams representing Virginia Commonwealth University has won the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s fourth annual College Fed Challenge Competition, a regional academic competition to encourage better understanding of the nation’s central bank.

The contest also encourages a better understanding of the forces influencing economic conditions in the United States and abroad, and the ways the economy affects everyone.

VCU Team 1 winners in November included Pasant Abbas, Aaron Dale, Matthew Kona, Brian Reese, and Hulusi Zarpli. The two VCU teams make up this semester’s Economics 491 class, which studies a broad range of economic conditions. Dennis O’Toole, Ph.D., teaches the class in VCU’s School of Business and decided to combine the competition into a class four years ago.

The competition calls for five-member teams to undertake research, to analyze data about current and near-term economic conditions, and to decide on and recommend a specific course for monetary policy by deciding whether to raise, lower or maintain interest rates.

VCU's teams delivered 20-minute presentations on monetary policy to Federal Reserve economists and were scored on content, teamwork, responses to questions, presentation and style.

"In other words, the team predicts, based on their studies of the economy, what the Federal Reserve should do with the Federal Funds rate at its Dec. 14 meeting," O'Toole said.

Final preparation for the competition became a School of Business activity this year with coaching from several economics professors, including dean Michael Sesnowitz, Ph.D.; Department of Economics chair Edward Millner, Ph.D.; Steven Peterson, Ph.D.; George Hoffer, Ph.D.; David Harless, Ph.D.; Shannon Mitchell, Ph.D.; Leslie Stratton, Ph.D.; Neil Murphy, Ph.D.; Iris Johnson, Ph.D.; Jon Ackley, Ph.D.; and Tai Shin, Ph.D.

"This definitely was an excellent experience,” said Abbas. ”We not only learned a great deal about the economy, but we learned to work together as a team."

The competition also included student teams from Bridgewater College, James Madison University, Liberty University, Old Dominion University, the University of Richmond, Virginia Tech, Virginia Union University and the College of William and Mary.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond is one of 12 District Reserve Banks that together with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., makes the Federal Reserve System. The Richmond Fed serves the 5th Federal Reserve District, which encompasses the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and most of West Virginia.