Young Economist Competition 2014

The Department of Economics has again hosted the annual Young Economist Competition, sponsored by Die Burger, for first year students in Economics at three Cape universities. Participants in the competition, in teams of two students each, make forecasts on economic data such as inflation rates, the GDP growth rate, interest rates and (most daringly) exchange rates. For each forecast, points are awarded for accuracy once the actual data have been revealed; the overall winners are those at the end of the competition with the highest scores. For the first time, the winners of the competition (centre team in picture) were from the University of Cape Town, Rushin Ryan Galant and Chidochashe Mahofa. Chidochashe Mahofa says she "had a fun experience and competing with more universities was more challenging but more exciting as well". The runners up (right in picture), U Machiu and VP Dlamini were from Stellenbosch University and in third place (left in picture), from Cape Town, were Blake James Player and Joshua Luke Gilson.