By Emily GlazerThe Daily Northwestern
Role-playing is never easy, especially when you’re imitating someone sitting right in front of you.
At Nov. 28’s National College Federal Reserve Challenge, Frederick Herrmann, a member of Northwestern’s team, portrayed Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker.
Lacker also was one of the three economists judging the event.
“I was literally sitting right across the boardroom table from the person I was playing,” he said. “I was very glad I had studied all of his positions in depth.”
The team won $25,000 in the challenge – its third win in the contest’s three-year history.
During the competition, in which students summarize the state of the U.S. economy by assuming the roles of major policy makers, NU’s five-member team presented a 20-minute mock Federal Open Markets Committee meeting, followed by a 15-minute question- and-answer session.
The team assumed the roles of the chairman of the Federal Reserve, bank presidents and governors. These policymakers evaluate the nation’s current economic state, discuss the implications of monetary policy and vote on whether interest rates should increase or decrease.
The national finals are judged by actual policymakers who attend the real meeting, Herrmann said.
Herrmann, a McCormick senior, and Josh Goldstein, a Weinberg sophomore, were new to the team, which also included three returning members: captain and club founder Josh Plavner, a Weinberg senior; Rosa Li, a Weinberg senior; and Jeanne Ruan, a Weinberg junior.
NU’s team spent about a month preparing for the regional competition and about two more weeks modifying their work before the national competition, Goldstein said.
To prepare for the presentation, the team memorized a script they developed to “tell the story of what is going on with the economy and what we think the economy will be doing in the next six to 12 months,” Plavner said.
Team members said the second part of the competition, when they are asked impromptu questions by the judges, is tough. They agreed that their success in both sections of the competition was due in large part to their strong group dynamic.
“By the time we presented in Washington, D.C., we knew each other’s strengths and areas of in-depth knowledge,” Herrmann said. “In the question-and-answer phase of the competition, we were able to build off of each other’s responses.”
The team is the only university to have won the challenge, placing first every year since the contest began.
“I’m a little surprised (the Chicago District) won it three times in a row,” said Tim Schilling, coordinator of Chicago’s regional Federal Challenge Competition. “But I’m not surprised that a Northwestern team wins. There is an excellent program in place at NU, and the faculty is top-notch, obviously.”
To advance to the finals, NU defeated 12 other teams from the Chicago Federal Reserve district, including the University of Chicago.
More than 70 college teams competed across the country at the regional level before four teams advanced to compete nationally.
This year, NU defeated teams from Boston College, Rutgers University and Virginia Commonwealth University in the finals.
“I think it’s the strongest team I’ve seen,” Schilling said. “They have balance, experience, and knowledge. And they’re hard to rattle in Q&A.”
Reach Emily Glazer at [email protected].
