James Lin ’18 ties for first at Harvard Pre-Collegiate Economics Competition

Eight students represent Exeter at highly competitive daylong match.

By
Nicole Pellaton
April 17, 2018
Gregory Mankiw, Professor of Economics at Harvard University, with James Lin ’18.

Gregory Mankiw, Professor of Economics at Harvard University, with James Lin ’18.

Accomplished mathlete James Lin has done it again, this time tying for first at the Harvard Pre-Collegiate Economics Competition (HPEC).

At the April 14 matchup held on Harvard’s campus, Exeter was represented by seniors Keyu Cao, Prady Dayal, Daniel Li, Lin, Peter O’Keefe, Valeria Rios, and Will Soltas, and upper Andrew Loevinger.

Approximately 140 students from 20 schools in the U.S. and abroad converged at HPEC this year. Competition is based on an individual written exam (focused on microeconomics, macroeconomics and current events) followed by a fast-paced quiz bowl format. Quiz bowl questions broaden out to also include economic history and modern research topics. Lin’s first-place finish was based on his score in the written exam.

Members of Exeter's economics team

Working with Economics and History Instructor Giorgio Secondi, the eight Exonians met during free periods and on evenings and weekends to prepare — compressing a spring term’s worth of microeconomics into a few hours of study.

“I’m very proud of the students, not only for learning a lot of economics, but also for working well as a team during preparation for the competition and having a lot of fun in the process,” says Secondi, who has coached Exeter teams for six Harvard economics meets, including the HPEC 2014 when Exeter placed first overall. “Each student contributed exceptional skills, and they all learned from each other.”

The PEA contestants received on-site cheerleading from Alec Sun ’18, Ravi Jagadeesan ’14, Hansen Shi ’14 and Spencer Kwon ’12, all currently attending Harvard.