Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Harvard College won the eighth annual national College Fed Challenge on Tuesday. The team from Cambridge, Mass. represented the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and included Anirudha Balasubramanian, Sumit Malik, Andreas Schaab, Benjamin Sprung-Keyser, James Sun, Justin Katiraei, and faculty adviser Benjamin Friedman.

The finals were held in the Board Room at the Board of Governors as the capstone to five district competitions held around the country. The other national finalists were second place Rutgers University, Newark, N.J., with honorable mentions for Albion College, Albion, Mich.; Lafayette College, Easton, Penn.; and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.

College Fed Challenge is a team competition for undergraduate students. Teams play the role of members of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve's monetary policymaking body. The competition encourages students to learn about the U.S. economy, monetary policymaking, and the role of the Federal Reserve System. The competition also aims to foster students' interest in economics and finance as fields for advanced study and careers.

Teams competing in the finals gave 15-minute presentations and made a monetary policy recommendation or decision. Teams were judged on economic analysis, responses to judges' questions, teamwork, and presentation. Judges for the finals this year were Elizabeth A. Duke, member, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Krishna Guha, executive vice president of communications, Federal Reserve Bank of New York; and John Weinberg, senior vice president and director of research, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Teams competed in their local Reserve Bank Districts, and top teams moved on to the finals in Washington, D.C.