The Annual Contest for Secondary Schools gets stronger
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Wellington, June 6, 2018
Teams from six secondary schools have been chosen as finalists in the Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Challenge.
This is a Competition for secondary schools students in New Zealand, giving them a rare opportunity to understand how the Reserve Bank of New Zealand sets its Official Cash Rate (OCR) which is eight times a year and learn how it manages the Monetary Policy.
The six schools selected as finalists to compete in the second round of Competition next month are Auckland Grammar, Christ’s College, Christchurch Girls’ High School, King’s College, Macleans College, and Mt Albert Grammar.
King’s College is the only school from the 2018 finalists to have previously won the Competition.
‘Determining Monetary Policy’
In the first round of the Competition, students had a chance to try their hand at making a Monetary Policy decision, setting the main interest rate that influences the cost of borrowing and interest paid on savings.
The annual Competition attracted entries from 35 secondary schools from across New Zealand to step into the shoes of a Reserve Bank Economist.
The Competition is designed to increase students’ understanding of monetary policy by working as a team to assess economic conditions and make a prediction for the Official Cash Rate (OCR) decision. It is open to Year 12 and 13 secondary school students and can also contribute towards NCEA achievement standards.
Impressive Performance
Reserve Bank Economists judged the Competition and said they were impressed by the broad range of factors schools considered when making their decisions, and by their answers during the question and answer session.
“Students demonstrated a sound understanding of what matters for monetary policy. They did very well in justifying their decision during the presentation, as well as applying economic theory to real life situations during the Q&A,” Reserve Bank Economists Amy Rice and Nick Mulligan said.
“We were particularly impressed by the number of schools that recognised that the Bank’s mandate has changed and considered the labour market as part of their analysis.”
National Finals
The finalists will travel to the Bank in Wellington for the National finals on July 3, 2018 to give an oral presentation and compete for the title of Challenge winner.
The winning team will be invited back to the Reserve Bank on August 9, 2018 to attend the Monetary Policy Statement media conference.
The Competition Process
Students taking part in the Monetary Policy Challenge consider the same information as Reserve Bank Economists, and recommend whether the OCR should go up, down, or stay the same.
Participants in the Challenge go through four stages, namely Filing the Entry, Analysis and Decision-making, Online presentation, National Final and Winners Visit to RBNZ in Wellington.
The Presentation round will demonstrate how the participating teams understand Monetary Policy and how New Zealand economy works.
The Presentation should be supported by sound reasoning, taking into account current domestic and international economic conditions and the outlook for inflation.
The Presentation is conducted online via videoconference with two RBNZ economists as the Competition judges. The Judges then choose six national finalists, who present in person in Wellington and compete for the National title.
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Photo Caption
Kristin School (Albany, North Shore) Auckland, winners of the 2017 Monetary Challenge
(Picture from RBNZ Website)
