Policy Analyst, Market Shaping Accelerator
The Market Shaping Accelerator at the University of Chicago is led by the world’s leading market shaping scholars including Nobel laureate Michael Kremer (UChicago), Professor and former Chief Economist of the FCDO Rachel Glennerster (UChicago), and Professor Christopher Snyder (Dartmouth). The accelerator aims to identify the most promising areas for market shaping instruments (such as Advance Market Commitments) to incentivize innovations that address pressing global challenges such as climate change and biosecurity.
Job Description
The Policy Analyst (HR role: Policy Coordinator) will work with the Policy Lead, Director, Professor Rachel Glennerster and other colleagues at the Market Shaping Accelerator to support the development and adoption of high impact market shaping proposals that will incentivize innovations that address climate change, biosecurity, and other pressing global challenges.
Responsibilities will include but not be limited to the following:
- Supporting economic appraisal (including cost-benefit analysis) of market shaping proposals
- Supporting analysis of policy challenges such as climate mitigation, climate adaptation, and pandemic preparedness
- Review and map academic and policy literatures
- Identifying promising candidate problems to tackle with market shaping instruments through desk research
- Estimating the size of relevant markets, the potential benefits of new innovations and the potential size (cost) of the market shaping instruments
- Understanding the market structure of key sectors
- Supporting investigation of technologies such as cooling, improved crop varieties, carbon removal, vaccines
- Communicating with market shaping proposal advocates, innovators, and funders
Required qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Economics or related field
- Excellent analytical and critical-thinking skills
- Strong oral and written communication skills
- Ability to stay organized on multiple projects simultaneously
- Curiosity and interest in climate change, biosecurity (including pandemic preparedness)
Preferred qualifications
- Careful understanding of economic incentives and an ability to creatively apply economic principles
- Comfort with uncertainty and willingness to engage in back-of-the-envelope (or Fermi) economic calculations and estimates
- Data and spreadsheet skills (e.g. building models for economic and financial appraisal)
Working Conditions
- Some domestic travel to Washington, D.C., New York and California. International travel as required.
The University of Chicago supports work authorization for this role.