Duke Econ Students Take First at Econometrics Game

Duke Economics students Lewis Zhu, Ian C. Bailey, Nick Sortisio and Nick Papavassiliou won first place at the Econometrics Game in Chicago, which took place on April 4 to 6, 2025.  

The Econometrics Game is a weekend-long competition where undergraduate teams of 1 to 4 students come from over 30 prestigious universities tackle real-world economic questions using data. The cases address urgent global issues, giving students the opportunity to apply their knowledge for real-world impact. 

The 2025 Econometrics Game competition consisted of two rounds. The first round, held virtually in February, challenged teams to submit a paper within two days using labor market data to establish a causal effect related to gender, while applying proper econometric theory.  

Out of 97 teams, 14 advanced to the final round, which took place at the University of Chicago. There, teams were given just 12 hours to explore a newly released dataset and craft a compelling causal question on the impact of an unspecified event on trade flows.  

“It was probably the most stressful 12 hours of my life,” said Papavassiliou. “I felt confident in our team and the work we submitted, but the competition was incredibly intense.”   

By Saturday night, teams submitted a paper defending their identification strategy. On Sunday, finalists presented their findings to a panel of University of Chicago Economics faculty, where teams were judged on both their technical expertise and the creativity of the solutions they offered to pressing economic issues. 

In the ten years the competition has taken place, this was Duke’s first time winning — and the first time Harvard University didn’t get the first prize.  

“Winning was a great feeling,” said Zhu. “But what stood out even more was getting to work closely with three other motivated peers, all fully engaged and supporting one another throughout the process.