##pated shocks as is feasible to achieve. policymakers need to be able to rely more on the markets'self - adjusting process and less on officials'uncertain forecasting capabilities. the u. s. economy's response to the terrorist attacks of september 11, 2001, is a case in point. that shock was absorbed by a recently enhanced, highly flexible set of institutions and markets without significantly disabling our economy overall. but that flexibility should not be taken for granted, and every effort should be made to preserve and extend it. in this regard, the recent emergence of protectionism and the continued structural rigidities in many parts of the world are truly worrisome. in the end, i trust that we will all recognize our common interest in fostering global and domestic arrangements that promote the prosperity of our citizens.

schools excited about the subject of economics. eighty three schools from across the province were chosen to participate in the inaugural challenge. the initial selection of schools was done having reviewed all gauteng schools ’ 2011 matric economics results. only schools that received at least a 90 % pass rate were invited into the inaugural challenge and invited schools represented all income quintiles and districts. the 56 schools that finally entered needed to select a team of between four and five matric economics learners. these teams were given data from the bank ’ s research department to interrogate over the course of a few weeks in may and june. at the conclusion of the analysis period, each team then submitted a 1000 word essay to the bank. team essays followed the same format as the bank ’ s monetary policy statement, i. e. analysed local and global conditions and concluded with a decision as to what the country ’ s repo rate should be. reserve bank economists went through the initial essays and choose 5 finalist teams, who were then invited back to present to members of the bank ’ s monetary policy committee ( mpc ). the months of hard work by both bank staff and learners and schools culminated on the 7th of august at a function at the bank where krugersdorp high school ’ s team were announced as the winners of the inaugural challenge. both the team and the schools received cash prizes, the winning teacher a laptop and the team also became eligible for reserve bank bursaries. if you don ’ t remember the 7th of august, let me jog your memory by saying that it was the day that it snowed in gauteng. members of the bank ’ s mpc challenge team are still convinced that this is less to do with meteorological conditions and more to do with the fact that the walls of the bank ’ s conference centre auditorium were resounding to the sound of the black - eyed peas ’ “ i gotta feeling ” as part of the winners announcement and celebrations. for those of you who know central banks, this is about as common as snow on the highveld. the team ’ s final prize was to come to the bank on the 20th of september with their teacher and school principal, as my guests, to be present at the live mpc decision announcement to the media. they then joined members of the mpc at a small function hosted in their honour afterwards. the challenge really offered a wonderful opportunity to matric economics learners and their teachers to make a very abstract subject come