Mount Albert Grammar School in Auckland was awarded second place, while Wellington Girls' College and Auckland's King's College were given honourable mentions.
Our Monetary Policy Challenge gives secondary school senior economic students all over New Zealand the opportunity to apply their knowledge and use real-world scenarios and data to set monetary policy.
Through a video, students answered the question: If you were members of the Monetary Policy Committee what would you set the Official Cash Rate to at the Monetary Policy Review in October?
The entries were judged by RBNZ Chief Economist Paul Conway, along with Senior Economic Analysts Caitlin Davies and Hamish Fitchett.
The judges were particularly impressed with the Christchurch Girls' High School entry as it showed a clear understanding of the thinking required in monetary policy decision-making.
"I used to mark undergraduate economics essays and exams, and the content and thinking behind the entries were on-par with, if not exceeding, the quality of work from many first-year university students," Dr Davies says.
The quality of the entries has given him confidence in the future of economists in New Zealand, Mr Conway says.
"It's great to see a strong group of participants in the Monetary Policy Challenge this year. We enjoyed watching all the entries and recognise the mahi put into them. We look forward to continuing our efforts to engage and inspire more students from a variety of backgrounds to pursue economics," Mr Conway says.
As part of their prize, the Christchurch Girls' High School team has been offered the opportunity to interview for our Summer Internship Programme. They have also visited the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's Wellington office, where they attended the November Monetary Policy Statement media conference and met with Governor Adrian Orr and other RBNZ senior leaders.
The Monetary Policy Challenge is open to all New Zealand secondary school senior economics students.
