The chief economist at the Bank of England said that he would sleep well in the knowledge that there are so many up and coming young economists.
Spencer Dale made his comments as Oundle School in Northamptonshire was named as the 14th winner of the Bank of England’s annual rate-setting Target 2.0 competition.
The contest challenged teams of young people to assume the role of Threadneedle Street’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and propose the best rate and policy to sustain growth while hitting the official inflation target of two per cent.
From an original field of 287 schools, six teams of A level pupils took part in the national finals in London last month.
The youngsters were quizzed by three members of the MPC – Paul Fisher, Spencer Dale and Ian McCafferty – and by Hugh Pym, the BBC’s chief economics correspondent.
Mr Dale said afterwards that he was thrilled to “see people who are so smart, thoughtful and committed” and said that the Oundle team stood out because the students had “really challenged what the MPC is doing”.
The members of the Oundle team are Oli Wood, Malayandi Palaniappan, Juliette Aliker and Freddie Martin.
As part of the experience the pupils were given guided tours of the Bank of England, visited the gold vaults and talked to senior MPC members. Their prize is a four-week summer internship at the bank and a £10,000 donation to their school.
The runners-up were Ilford County High School in Essex and Bishop Wordsworth’s School in Salisbury, Wiltshire.
CAPTION: Challenging: Oundle’s team members with Spencer Dale, chief economist for the Bank of England (centre) and Mo Tanweer, head of economics at Oundle (far right)