Westlake Boys: 2012 ANZ Massey Economics Challenge

Westlake Boys recommended selling minority stakes in state-owned power companies – and using the funds generated to purchase majority stakes in key privately-owned power companies. Judge Simon Chapple, principal advisor at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, said: “Your solution really stood out, and economists often quite like counter-intuitive solutions. However you need to be aware if you are going to go down the counter-intuitive route, if you are going to step outside the herd, then your argument has got to be doubly strong. You are going to be subject to a lot more criticism because you are not thinking like everyone else.”