The 2023 team won Regional Finalists in the Fed Challenge. ANGELINAPEREZ/THEQUADRANGLE
By Karen Flores, Staff Writer
The Manhattan College Federal Reserve team was named a regional finalist in the Fed Challenge, marking a milestone for the team since its creation at the college.
The Fed Challenge is a national competition in which students create a monetary policy recommendation and present it to a panel of judges within the Federal Reserve.
The team submitted a 15-minute presentation to the Federal Reserve in early October and received a spot among the top 18 teams out of more than 100 competing colleges nationwide.
The 2023 team was composed of five students, one of whom is Rehan Mehta, a senior economics and mathematics double major and the president of the Fed Challenge team.
Mehta explained that his role as president involved the use of both quantitative and qualitative skills, with the need for research skills as well as data analysis.
“My biggest task is previewing and looking over all that the analysts on the team did, which was conducting the literature review, reading all the academic papers that were assigned,” Mehta said. “[Tasks that I conducted] which includes data analysis such as making regressions as well as logistic regression, hypothesis testing and statistical inference.”
Cara Loganadhan, a sophomore finance and global business double major, is also a member of the team.
She told The Quadrangle that the preparation for the competition involves research that connects various sectors of the economy and team meetings that happen throughout the year.
“We read many different articles, listen to the Federal Reserve meetings and try to figure out what the current state of the economy is,” Loganadhan said. “We then look at factors like GDP, the labor market and financial markets so we may compile information to craft our proposal for how the Federal Reserve should approach the current economic situation.”
Mehta explained that the team decided to make changes to their approach regarding their presentation and how much time they spent creating their proposal.
“We changed the pathway of how we were going to present, who would present a specific topic, and what we’re going to present,” Mehta said. “We started our journey about six months before we would usually do as well and we also allocated more time together as a team, especially during the last few months when we were meeting for several hours on end every week, it was a learning experience.”
Loganadhan recalled that the presentation aspect involved each team member having a one-on-one discussion with one of the judges and said that despite being a bit intimidated, she felt the team chemistry gave her confidence when presenting.
“We thought we would be allowed in the same room while we had our discussions but we were not, so at the very last minute we all split up into different rooms and were not allowed to use headphones as a precaution,” Loganadhan said. “I was nervous since we did not know each other’s responses but the team has great chemistry so that helped when we had to explain our ideas alone since we had a good understanding of each other’s way of thinking.”
Hany Guirguis, Ph.D., professor of economics and finance, is the faculty advisor for the team and believes this competition is a great opportunity for students to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-world situations.
“It’s a unique and wonderful experience and the students have the wonderful opportunity to apply what they learn in the classroom,” Guirguis said. “It’s a life experience, especially for those who stayed in the competition for three or four years. It tends to have some significant impact on their career and their understanding of economics and finance.”
Mehta encourages students to take part in the competition and the many opportunities it may offer.
“In this competition, you are giving recommendations for monetary policy, you learn and gain an amazing perspective of economics and finance, you’re networking with some of the most prolific people in the industry and have a great talking point when doing interviews,” Mehta said. “I would recommend new students to be part of this team because it’s not just the challenge itself. It’s everything that comes with the experience.”
For those interested in joining the team, email Hany Guirguis at hany.guirguis@manhattan.edu.