A team of students from the Nicolais School of Business has come together to tackle a very real-world issue: What should the Federal Reserve Bank do about monetary policy?
“This is the first year Wagner College is participating in the Federal Reserve Challenge,” said economics Professor Kayhan Koleyni, who assembled and worked with the four-student team to enter the regional round of the national competition. The students are all graduates of his intermediate macroeconomics class.
“We looked at two years of data to try to predict what would happen in the near future,” said junior Flavio Vinci of Grottaferrata, Italy. “Trends on unemployment and inflation,” chimed in senior Eskil Njerve of Bergen, Norway. “Many economic indicators,” agreed Javier Gonzalez of San Juan, Puerto Rico, also a senior.
Cutting to the chase: Like President Trump, the Wagner team recommends the Fed lower interest rates to spur the U.S. economy.
The Seahawks — one of 119 college teams across the country, said senior Fanny Straub of Nuernberg, Germany — also got to tour the New York branch of the Federal Reserve. “It’s such a huge institution,” she said. “It was very exciting to see.”
“This challenge is designed to give the students real-world experience of monetary policy making in a highly competitive environment,” Koleyni said. “A small group of top colleges and universities compete first at the regional and then at the national level by analyzing economic conditions and recommending a course of actions for monetary policies. Winners even at the regional level usually end up getting jobs in one of the branches of Federal Reserve.”
The students said both Koleyni and the challenge pushed them to think outside the box.
“We had to make our own variables, and take economic theory and apply it to models, gathering data related to that,” said Njerve. “We really had to wrap our brains around stuff. It wasn’t just busywork.”
“A lot of theory on one side, a lot of practicality on the other,” said Gonzalez. “I’m interested in monetary policy and how that affects the market, and this gave us a bird’s-eye view of why the Fed does the things it does, and how the numbers affect the policies.”
“It was interesting to learn how much power the Fed has … and differences with the European Central Bank,” said Vinci. “But what I really enjoyed was learning the theory in class and seeing the real world, understanding the balance of theory and practice.”
The students, as is common at Wagner, are no strangers to competition in other spheres — all are D1 athletes: Straub and Vinci fencers, Njerve on the track and field team, and Gonzalez a golfer.
They are still waiting to hear whether they advance to the next round in this new competition. But simply participating will “open doors for all of us,” said Gonzalez.
Koleyni agreed: “Even being in the challenge, regardless of outcome, will generate lots of opportunities, including networking for students.
“I’m thankful to Professor Koleyni for the opportunity,” said Njerve. “A good learning experience — and good on the resume.”
