The 2021 Econ Games
Learn more at www.theecongames.com
Intro
The pandemic has impacted the way we teach, and has reduced number opportunities for students to network, engage with each other, and to develop skills outside of the classroom. The need for experiential learning is higher today than ever before. So, if you are an economics student that is interested in getting some hand on experience, tackling real life problems, and also being able to network with other economics students from across the country and the world, I have an opportunity for you. Today, I’ll tell you how you can participate in the Econ Games.
The Econ Games program is an Economic Education Innovation venture that I have been working on for a couple of years. It all started with listening to my students and hearing about what they thought they needed. So today, we will talk about what the economic games are, why you need to consider participating and how you can participate. At the end of this I will tell you about all the schools and faculty that are have already committed for 2021. I will also share with you who our data collaborator is this year. I am excited about it.
If you are new here, my name is Dr. A. I am an Associate Professor of Economics and the Director for the center for economic education at Northern Kentucky University. It is my life mission to increase access to and the quality of economic education. I believe everyone can make better life decisions with a strong foundation of economics. So, let’s talk about how we do that with The Econ Games.
What are The Econ Games?
The Econ Games are an experiential learning program to allow students to use what they learned in the classroom and to apply it to a real-world question. We work with data collaborators from industry, government, or think tanks to bring data and allow our participants to help answer questions.
This is a high energy experience that replicates an internship experience. Students work together to manage a large dataset, investigate it, and present their analysis to our data collaborator. We are excited about the 2021 data collaborator. But Before I tell you who it is. let me tell you about which schools have already committed to participate this year.
Schools and Faculty
The Econ Games were first started as a student group project at Northern Kentucky University. The Economics Club, that I advised wanted to apply what they were learning to a real-life problem and create a fun and engaging program. We designed the Econ Games, and since it has grown.
Today the Econ Games are a partnership between me at the NKU Center for Economic Education and Darshak Patel at the Institute for the study of Free Enterprise at the University of Kentucky. We realize that one of the difficult parts of recruiting economics majors is that the world does not know what is possible with an economics degree, we also realized that in the past employers did not know why they should consider economics majors. So, we created this program to connect everyone and raise awareness about what economics majors are capable of doing. My friend, Darshak, likes to call this an internship for a day.
We are lucky to collaborate this year with amazing colleagues across the country and the world. This year we have faculty from
Belmont University
Dickinson College
Elon University
University of Arizona
University College London
University of Tampa
University of Kentucky
Virginia Tech
Xavier
And Northern Kentucky University.
We are limited on space this year. If you are interested and your school is not on here make sure to get a faculty advisor to reach out to us soon. Final day to register new schools is December 24th, or by the time we meet our participation limit.
2021 Econ Games
you are probably dying to learn about how the 2021 program will run.
Well, new faculty registration will close end of December.
In January, faculty submit their teams to us.
In February we will organize your teams and you will have the opportunity to work together on sample projects. This will allow you to network with other students participating in the Games. This is important, in a world where it is hard to connect with others, we want to help students find new connections that help their professional development.
On March 5th we will host the first round of the games and you will get to learn more about our data collaborator this year.
Ok, so I think this is a good time to announce our data collaborator. I am excited to share with you that this year the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is our data collaborator, and our theme is
“Public Policy”.
On March 5th, students will receive a dataset to work on and will have to answer a public policy question. By design, no one other than the data collaborator knows what’s in the dataset. Participants will have till March 8th to submit their policy memos and presentations. The top 3 submissions will be picked by the federal reserve bank of Cleveland to present their work on March 12th to all participants. This is an exciting time, with a lot of energy and there are awards at stake.
The top team picked by judges will be The Econ Games winner for 2021!
All participants will receive a certificate to recognize the extra effort that they put into their professional development.
As you can see, we expanded the duration of the program this year, so it’s not only a day but a Mini Internship. This is a fun and exciting way to bring economics and data analytics to life and to meet others with similar interest from across the world. In an environment where students are missing on experiential learning and missed internship opportunities, we hope that The Econ Games provides them with an enjoyable experience that builds their skills and opportunities.
What to do next?
If you made it this far, make sure to like, leave a comment, and subscribe to this channel for more exciting economics opportunities. Also, make sure to check out the link below to learn more about The Econ Games. If you are a faculty member interested in participating, reach out and we would love to connect with you and. If you are a student that thinks this is an amazing opportunity, find a faculty member, share this video with them, and have them contact us.
Thanks to our colleagues, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland for collaborating with us this year.
See you at The Econ Games.
