The competition, hosted by the Hawaii Council on Economic Education, took place last week at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. More than 200 students from nine private and public high schools participated.

Both teams will represent Hawai'i in the event's Western Regional Competition on April 23 at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank.

The 'Iolani students won both the David Ricardo division and the Adam Smith division, defeating Maryknoll School in the quiz bowl finals of both divisions.

Winners for the David Ricardo division were 'Iolani students Evan Kam, Yoichi Sagawa, Cody Silva and Thanh Vu. The winners of the Adam Smith division were 'Iolani students Jonah Yuen, Nathan Yang, Marisa Ideta and Alex Chun. The Adam Smith teams from 'Iolani have won the national title in the Economics Challenge for the past two years.

They will compete against finalists from Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Utah and Washington in the regional competition in San Francisco. Regional winners will compete in the national championship on May 19 to 21 in New York City.

"Students at this caliber deserve special recognition because they are challenging the current statistics," said Council Executive Director Kristine Castagnaro, in a news release. "In a survey of Hawai'i's public school seniors, 71 percent didn't know the definition of 'budget deficit' and only 22.5 percent understood the effects of inflation."

The Hawaii Council on Economic Education promotes the teaching of economics in Hawai'i's public and private schools to increase the economic and financial literacy of Hawai'i students and residents. The council's programs promote economic literacy and focus on the development of successful strategies for improving the quality of economic education.

For more information, visit www.hcee.org.