About the program
What is the Fed Challenge?
The High School Fed Challenge is a research and writing competition run by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Teams of students investigate a pressing economic question, develop an evidence-based argument, and submit their work for possible publication in the Journal of Future Economists.
The competition is structured around a central theme that changes each year. Past themes have covered globalization, labor markets, and technological change. AES entered for the first time in 2026.
The timeline is tight. From first meeting to final submission is ten weeks, with each session carrying a specific deliverable. Teams that stay on track from day one tend to produce the strongest work.
2026 Team
Economics of Music
This year's theme examined the economics of the music industry. The team produced a podcast script analyzing market structures, incentive design, and policy questions in the streaming era.
Submitted March 2026
Sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The work
What the team produces
Research
Literature review
Each team member identifies and vets academic sources relevant to the research question. The team's source list is evaluated against an internal rubric before any drafting begins.
Analysis
Economic argument
The team builds a single, coherent economic argument: a specific, supported claim, not a survey of the topic. This is the hardest part and the most important.
Deliverable
Podcast script
The 2026 submission format was a podcast script: a written piece designed to be read aloud, combining economic analysis with accessible narrative. Finalists may be published by the Fed.
Reference
The Journal of Future Economists
The 2023 Journal of Future Economists issue, covering the Economics of Globalization, is publicly available and gives a sense of the competition's standard.