Northwestern welcomed more than 80 students from 21 high schools for the annual Northwestern Economics Tournament Saturday.

Founded in 2016, NET is run annually by undergraduates with funding and logistical support from the economics department.

Phillips Exeter Academy, a New Hampshire boarding school, took first place in the Econ Bowl, the part of the competition where students verbally answer economics questions in a quiz bowl format. 

For the first time, the team also won the Advanced division of the Power Round, where participants answered written questions authored by NET members. 

“Power Round was a complete surprise,” Phillips Exeter Academy junior Eli Orbach said. “We were not expecting that at all.” 

Although the Econ Bowl has always taken place synchronously, Weinberg senior and NET co-President Anastasia Galinski said this was the first year the Power Round also occurred in person to ensure testing integrity. Participants in previous years answered Power Round questions online. 

Students heard from economics Prof. Mark Witte about the effects of artificial intelligence on the labor market to start the event. Later in the afternoon, economics Prof. Abi Adams spoke to attendees about the economics of the family. 

“NU specifically is the favorite of our tournaments because it really does go to a high technical level of rigor,” Phillips Exeter Academy junior Drona Gaddam said. 

Participants played the game “Split or Steal” between competition rounds. Beyond training students in game theory, Weinberg senior and NET co-President Elisa Guo said the new activity served as an opportunity for competitors to socialize. 

Guo said she participated in team-based economics tournaments similar to NET while in high school. 

“That was one of the initial ways I got interested in economics,” Guo said. “So it’s been very rewarding for me to give back and create those same experiences that got me interested in studying econ as a high schooler.”

While some schools like Phillips Exeter Academy have competed in NET for several years, others attended for the first time, like Barrington High School in Barrington, Illinois.

William Betz chaperoned Barrington’s team, which included his son. As someone who casually consumes content related to economics, he said he hopes the tournament encourages the team’s enthusiasm for the subject. 

“I just like to listen to (economics) podcasts for fun, so it’s fabulous to see my son take an interest — and some of his friends as well,” Betz said. 

Teams’ preparation strategies varied. Betz said the Barrington team went over practice questions in his basement, while Orbach said he and his groupmates sometimes wrote their own questions.    

Both Galinski and Guo said they don’t expect participants to get every question right — they just hope NET fosters high schoolers’ interest in economics. 

“It’s really great to be able to share with them how incredible econ is, whether they want to major in it or whether they just want to appreciate it,” Galinski said. 

Clarification: This story has been updated to include the division of the Power Round that Phillips Exeter Academy won.

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