The Bentley team came in second place to Northwestern University during the ninth annual national finals of the College Fed Challenge, a competition for undergraduate students that challenges them to analyze economic and financial conditions and formulate a monetary policy recommendation. The final competition was held in Washington, D.C. at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve today, the same room where the Federal Open Market Committee meets to deliberate actual monetary policy.

Bentley’s team advanced to the finals after winning the regional competition where they faced 18  schools including Harvard, Dartmouth and Middlebury. Team members include Alfonso Martinez ‘13, Denise Klop (Tilburg University), Spencer Tirella ’13, Erik Larsson ’13, Guillermo Fernandez ’13, Brian Rogers ’14, Josh Kulak ’13, Dan Battista ’13, Cody Normyle ’13 and Thomas Moore ‘13. Bentley Economics Professors Aaron Jackson and Dave Gulley are the team advisors and led the students through practice and rehearsals leading up to the national competition.

During the finals, each team gave 15-minute presentations and then faced tough questions from a panel of judges including Fed Governor Elizabeth Duke, Federal Reserve Bank of New York Executive Vice President of Communications Krishna Guha, and Robert Barsky, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Sponsored by the Federal Reserve, the College Fed Challenge encourages students to learn about the U.S. economy, monetary policymaking, and the role of the Federal Reserve System in the economy. To prepare for the finals, the Bentley team monitored economic conditions in the United States, paying particular attention to all events surrounding the upcoming fiscal cliff.