Andover’s economics team brought home two first place trophies from the National Economics Challenge Massachusetts state competition held at the Boston Federal Reserve on Tuesday. The team consisted of Jeremy Chen ’13, Rose Wang ’13, Emily Field ’13, Gregory Wang ’13, Hyun Woo Kim ’13, Sahil Bhaiwala ’13, Harvey Wu ’14 and Gregory Young ’13. On April 16, the Andover economics team will proceed to the NEC semi-final round. The winning teams from all 50 states will attend this competition. The team hopes to place in the top four scoring teams of the semi-finals and advance to the National Final Competition, which will be held in New York City in May. “I am amazed that we were able to make it this far, and I hope we can better prepare for the upcoming rounds so that we could return back to the NEC Finals and place first like we did in 2011,” said Bhaiwala. The Economics Challenge consisted of three different competitions, which included Alfred Marshall Division, Adam Smith Division and David Ricardo Division. Andover contended in two of the three competitions, the Alfred Marshall Division and the David Ricardo Division. For the Alfred Marshall Division, teams are required to study current economic situations in a specific region, which is announced during the contest, and are then asked to write up a resolution proposal. The top two teams from the first round then progress to the second round, where they deliver a short presentation about their resolution proposal. The David Ricardo Division consists of two parts: a multiple choice question round and a quiz bowl. The top two teams from the multiple choice question round then compete in the quick-paced oral quiz bowl. Andover was split into two teams of four, one consisting of Kim, Bhaiwala, Wu and Young, and the other consisting of Chen, Rose Wang, Field and Gregory Wang. “Andover’s team had to divide into two groups and compete in two different divisions. Thus, we simultaneously participated in different rooms during the competition,” said Bhaiwala. The first team participated in the Alfred Marshall Division and took the first place trophy. Soon after, the second team took part in the David Ricardo Division, coming in first place with a score of 10-2, beating Belmont Hill School, an opponent they lost to last year. The questions for the Economics Challenge covered several topics of economics, including microeconomics, macroeconomics, international finance theories and current issues. “I am extremely glad that Andover was able to sweep the competition and win all of the competitions that we competed in. We prepared for this competition since Fall Term, and I am happy that all of our hard word paid off,” said Kim. “The Alfred Marshall competition became a new division this year, and being the first winners of this division was the most exciting part for me. I hope this leaves a good mark for the Andover economics team in the future,” Kim added. The Economics Team also traveled to Harvard University this past Saturday to compete at the Harvard Pre-Collegiate Economics Challenge (HPEC). They lost during the Semi- Finals to Choate Rosemary Hall. The Andover Economics Team began practicing for the two competitions at the end of Fall Term. They gathered as a team every Wednesday and Sunday at the Gelb Science Center and the Phillips Academy Computer Center to prepare for the contest, according to Bhaiwala. They mainly studied with “Principles of Economics,” a textbook by Gregory Mankiw, as well as reading daily newspapers for current economic issues and events, according to Kim. Since the Andover economics team did not have a faculty advisor this year, they traveled to their competitions by train.
