Econometric Game 2010

From the 11th until the 13th of April 2010, Amsterdam was once again flooded with 125 gifted econometricians. The eleventh edition of the Econometric Game was yet another highly successful one. The selection of 25 teams from three different continents were challenged to solve an interesting case on HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. The program of the three-day event was enriched with the Econometric Game Congress on the last day.

The Econometric Game 2010 was officially opened by chairman Reinier Joustra. During the opening ceremony, dr. R.H.A. Plasterk (Dutch scientist and politician) and mr. E. Hato (ING) gave presentations, and dr. C.G.H. Diks (case maker and University of Amsterdam teacher) introduced the case topic. The teams spent the rest of the day doing research on the topic.

The second day, the teams were all set at nine in the morning to start working on the first case. Teams were given a dataset on AIDS prevalence and other characteristics in an unspecified African nation. At the end of the survey, each participant was given the choice of whether to have a free blood test for AIDS as well as other illnesses. The first case required an investigation into the modelling of individual’s choices as to whether to take the free test for HIV. All teams had seven hours to complete the case study and write a report. After consideration, the expert jury named ten universities that were allowed to participate during the final day.

The ten finalists spent the third day working on a second case. The analysis focussed, amongst other things, on examining the interdependency of spousal decisions in determining whether the HIV test was taken. While the ten finalists worked hard to hand in a written report and prepare a verbal presentation of their results on time, the other fifteen teams could relax during a canal cruise through the canals of Amsterdam. In the afternoon, they attended the first edition of the Econometric Game Congress, together with the jury, University of Amsterdam students and other interested people. Speakers were prof. D.A. Jaeger (University of Cologne professor), prof. S.J.G. van Wijnbergen (University of Amsterdam professor) and mr. S. Noorda (chairman of the Association of Universities in the Netherlands). At the end of the congress, the ten finalists presented their results. The jury evaluated the written reports over dinner, and the award ceremony took place during a party at Heeren van Aemstel. Chairman Reinier Joustra announced that the third and second place was won by Aarhus University and VU University Amsterdam respectively. But the team that would take home the trophy and was named winner of the Econometric Game 2010 is Monash University!

The cases that have been resolved in the edition of 2010:

Econometric Game 2010 – Case A
Econometric Game 2010 – Case B

Participating universities in the Econometric Game 2010:

1. Aarhus University
2. Universitá Commerciale Luigi Bocconi
3. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
4. Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
5. Leibniz Universität Hannover
6. University of Rome Tor Vergata
7. London School of Economics
8. Maastricht University (Winner 2011)
9. Monash University (Winner 2010)
10. Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration
11. Tilburg University
12. Trinity College Dublin
13. Carlos III University of Madrid (Winner 2009)
14. Université Catholique de Louvain
15. University of Amsterdam
16. University of Antwerp
17. University of Bristol
18. University of Cambridge (winner 2008)
19. University of Groningen
20. University of Copenhagen
21. University of Economics, Prague
22. University of Orléans
23. University of Oxford
24. University of Warsaw
25. Uppsala University