Spectrum Economics Challenge 5 – Results

Hi Everyone,

It’s time to announce the results of Challenge 5. Voting has been very close and very active this time round (well over a 100 votes in). It looks like it has come down to three participants. Before I announce our winners, here’s just a quick recap of the challenge.

Quick recap of the challenge

For Challenge 5, participants were required to select a site for a restaurant based on a map and information provided in the question. The map revealed 4 possible sites for our participants to consider. Each site had advantages and disadvantages. The participants needed to provide a logical assessment to support their choice of site as well as why they did not select any of the other sites. After selecting the site for their restaurant, participants were also required to state the type and quality of the food they would serve at their restaurant. The participants were encouraged to be as creative as they like with their responses. The use of economics to support the choices made was encouraged in the question. It was also recommended that the participants make the response relatively easy for non-economists to understand.

Here is a link to the original Challenge 5 post

Quick recap of the prizes

So here is a just a quick recap of the prizes up for grabs for this challenge.

• Top post based on the logic used to support recommendations presented in the post wins 10 SBD .
• Second post based on the logic used to support recommendations presented in the post wins 5 SBD.
• Post that receives the highest number of votes during the voting round wins 5 SBD.

Participants

I would like to thank all eight participants for entering and taking the time to conduct analysis and write their posts. The participants are as followers.

• @lavanyalakshman
• @luisveco88
• @toyinbaruba
• @ojmg
• @patymm
• @knowledge-seeker
• @marioberlese
• @grafaelt

I would also like to thank those that took the time to read the participants entries as well as vote for our winners.

Winners

First I would to like announce the winners of the Spectrum Economics favourite post awards. There were several very good entries for this round so choosing a winner was difficult. So well done to all entries for bringing the standard up for this round. I have upvoted all entries as an additional thank you for the good work.

I have chosen the post written by @marioberlese as my favourite post. @marioberlese presented a very nice well balanced response to the question. @marioberlese described in detail the advantages of Site C (the selected site). A focus is put on the surrounding area and the available amenities. @marioberlese recognised that there were no fast food restaurants in Merry Town. This presented an opportunity to capture that market. @marioberlese even provided a quick analysis of the existing restaurants to emphasize the point that such a gap exists. Fast food appeared a strong choice as well, as people going to the bus station are likely to be in a hurry and will want to grab something quick to eat. @marioberlese finished the post by discussing why the other sites were not selected.

My second favourite post goes to @knowledge-seeker. @knowledge-seeker provided a very thorough analysis of all four sites before making a decision to go with Site C. @knowledge-seeker covered in some detail as to why Site C is preferred. @knowledge-seeker made key points regarding the site such as being close to an area with a rapidly growing population, larger building compared to other sites, and less competition than in the other areas. @knowledge-seeker also explains the selection of the buffet style menu that is accommodating to the diverse population of Merry Town. @knowledge-seeker explains the potential for future expansion as population grows.

Now to our winner based on the number of votes. The winning post with 66 votes, belongs to @lavanyalakshman. Congratulations @lavanyalakshman, you have won 5 SBD. In second place we have @marioberlese with 57 votes and in third place we have @toyinbaruba with 21 votes. Unfortunately for this challenge, I am only giving out 1 prize based on votes.

Just a word of caution to @lavanyalakshman and voters. Many of those that voted for your post left exactly the same comments. Examples of these comments are ‘My vote for entrant 1’ or ‘My support for entrant 1’. The post requested an explanation to support the vote provided. If this happens again in future contests/challenges, I will be forced to disregard these votes. The voting is intended to determine which entry is the best; that is why I am now requesting a brief explanation to support the vote.

Other Challenges

The results for Challenge 6 will be released very shortly. Challenge 6 does not have a voting round. So I will be selecting all the winners myself.