11 August 2005
2005 Monetary Policy Challenge winner announced
Nelson College has won the Reserve Bank's 2005 Monetary Policy Challenge school competition.
The competition involved students from 40 secondary schools becoming mock central bankers and preparing written advice
on what they think the Official Cash Rate should be. The OCR is an interest rate set by the Reserve Bank to implement
monetary policy, so as to maintain price stability. The competitors then presented this information to a panel of
Reserve Bank judges and participated in a question and answer session conducted by Reserve Bank economists.
The National Final was held today at the Reserve Bank, with Nelson College emerging as winner ahead of Burnside High
School and Tauranga Girls' High School who were placed second and third, respectively. The other competitors were King's
College, Hutt Valley High School and Logan Park High School.
"The Monetary Policy Challenge brings to life for students the dilemmas that central bankers face," commented Grant
Spencer, Reserve Bank Assistant Governor and member of the judging panel.
"Rather than just expecting students to learn established facts, this competition confronts them with the challenges,
ambiguity and uncertainty of actual decision-making. All of the teams competing today displayed a good knowledge of how
monetary policy works."
All final participants received a $50 book voucher and certificate and Nelson College, Burnside High School and Tauranga
Girls' High School received cheques for $2,500, $1500 and $750 respectively.
ENDS