Model Federal Open Market Committee (MFED)

MFED, or the Model Federal Open Market Committee here at the University of Michigan was founded in 2021 in order to provide a community for students interested in both economics, particularly monetary policy, and philanthropy. Along with creating economic curricula and leading financial literacy outreach initiatives, many of our members compete in the College Fed Challenge annually in the Fall. As a result, MFED is made up of student researchers, competitors, and educators, as well as two esteemed faculty advisors: Dr. Daniil Manaenkov and Dr. Oleg Zamulin.

When you are accepted into MFED you become a General Member, and thus gain access to our biweekly General Member workshops, presentations, guest speakers, etc. However, if you want to become more involved in philanthropy and/or the Fed Challenge, you have the opportunity to join one or both of our two major committees: The Competition Committee and The Education Outreach Committee.

The Competition Committee, led by our Competition Chair, is comprised of a Research Team and a Competition Team which both prepare for the College Fed Challenge throughout the year. The Fed Challenge is a competition centered around imitating the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee. It involves a 4-part 15-minute presentation and a Q&A session with judges from the Federal Reserve. Feel free to read more about the competition here: https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/educational-tools/fedchallenge.htm. If the competition interests you, you can choose to become either a) one of our incredible student researchers who comprise reports and data for our competitors or b) to apply to be one of the 5-7 competitors who will compete and engage directly with the judges.

If competing isn’t your thing, we also have our amazing Education Outreach Committee led by our EOC Chair. The EOC strives to spread financial literacy to people who wouldn’t receive it otherwise. MFED’s founders created this committee after noticing that many students, even at the college level, never received a proper introduction to the basics of the U.S. economy and personal finances. In the United States, not understanding how to manage your finances, invest, start a 401k or Roth-IRA, etc., can be extremely detrimental to one’s well-being. The EOC, through initiatives like visiting schools or creating informational pamphlets for college students, hopes to erase some of this mystery surrounding finances. In the past, we have focused on creating educational activities for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students introducing them to basic financial concepts which have been big successes. We hope to expand our efforts to people of all ages and backgrounds as MFED grows.

With our sponsorship from the Michigan Economics Department, we hope to expand our philanthropic initiatives to reach more people as well as support our Competition Committee. There is no major requirement for our members, and students of all disciplines are encouraged to apply. If you have any questions about MFED or our recruitment process which occurs at the start of each Fall and Winter semester, feel free to email mfed-eboard@umich.edu and refer to our website: https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mfed/.