Pre-Doctoral Research Opportunities
The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) works with the Chicago Economics community to turn its evidence-based research into real-world impact. BFI takes a unique approach to bridging the divide between academic researchers and decision-makers in the business community and government by translating and packaging the rigorous work of the Chicago Economics community into accessible formats, and proactively sharing those findings with relevant decision-makers and thought leaders around the globe. BFI is a collaborative platform serving the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics, the Harris School of Public Policy, and the Law School.
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The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) is seeking to hire a full-time Research Professional to work for Professor Christopher Blattman as part of BFI’s Development Economics Initiative. The Research Professional will collaborate on new and ongoing research projects with a focus on, but not limited to, the empirical analysis of field and quasi-experiments. More specifically, the Research Professional will be involved in advanced empirical and theoretical work on violence prevention, on the economics organized crime, as well as other topics on the intersection of development economics and political economy. The Research Professional is part of the vibrant research environment at The University of Chicago and may attend and participate in seminars and workshops in preparation for a successful academic career. This position requires a commitment of at least one year and applicants must be available to begin work as early as March 2021 and no later than June 2021
BFI’s Predoctoral Research in Economics Program (PREP) is intended to serve as a bridge between college and graduate school for students interested in empirical economics. Applicants must have completed a Bachelor’s degree by June 2021 and have strong quantitative and programming skills. Candidates with research experience are strongly preferred, especially those with experience in Stata, R, Python or Matlab.
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Application Deadline: January 31, 2021
The Development Innovation Lab (DIL) at the Becker Friedman Institute (BFI) uses the tools of economics to develop innovations of practical use in developing countries. By bringing together experts in different fields and working closely with nonprofit organizations, firms and governments in developing countries, we can simultaneously advance knowledge and generate solutions to development challenges which can reach hundreds of millions of people.
DIL is seeking to hire a full-time Research Professional to work with Professor Michael Kremer, Nobel Laureate, and possibly other faculty as part of the Development Innovation Lab. Successful applicants will collaborate on new and ongoing research in development economics.
BFI’s Predoctoral Research in Economics Program (PREP) is intended to serve as a bridge between college and graduate school for students interested in empirical economics. Applicants must have completed a Bachelor’s degree by June 2021 and have strong quantitative and programming skills. Candidates with research experience are strongly preferred, especially those with experience in Stata, R, Python or Matlab. The ideal candidate would begin on July 1, 2021 and work for one or two years before applying to graduate school in Economics or another international development field. DIL offers competitive salary and employee benefits.
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Application Deadline: January 31, 2021
The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) is seeking to hire a full-time Research Professional to work for Professor John List as part of BFI’s Chicago Experiments Initiative. The Research Professional will collaborate on new and ongoing research projects with a focus on, but not limited to, the implementation and empirical analysis of field experiments. Specifically, the Research Professional is involved in advanced empirical work on charitable giving, education, labor economics, discrimination, behavioral economics, and other topics within applied microeconomics. The Research Professional is part of the vibrant research environment at The University of Chicago and may attend and participate in seminars and workshops in preparation for a successful academic career. This position requires a commitment of at least one year and applicants must be available to begin work in July 2021.
Successful candidates will work directly with Chicago Experiments as part of BFI’s Predoctoral Research in Economics Program (PREP). The program is intended to serve as a bridge between college and graduate school for students interested in empirical economics. Applicants must have completed a Bachelors degree by June 2021 and have strong quantitative and programming skills. Candidates with research experience are strongly preferred, especially those with experience in Stata, R, Python or Matlab. The ideal candidate would begin on July 1, 2021 and work for BFI for one or two years before applying to graduate school in Economics or another quantitative social science. BFI offers competitive salary and employee benefits.
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The Becker Friedman Institute is seeking a Research Professional (RP) to work on new and ongoing research projects in and related to international economics and related fields, including economic geography and urban economics. The Research Professional will work under the guidance of Professors Jonathan Dingel and Felix Tintelnot. Their recent research is available at www.jdingel.com and felix-tintelnot.wikidot.com.
The Research Professional will be involved at all stages of Professor Dingel and Tintelnot’s research projects, from initial data exploration to reporting conclusions. Typical responsibilities include collecting, manipulating, and analyzing large datasets, programming statistical simulations, producing visualizations, and reporting results. These functions are often executed using parallel processing on the University’s high-performance computing clusters. The RP will also help design and proofread reports and presentations related to these research projects. The RP will collaborate with Dingel, Tintelnot, their coauthors, PhD students, and other RPs involved in this work at Chicago and other universities.
This position is ideal for individuals considering attending graduate school in economics and related fields. Prior RPs have become Economics PhD students at Berkeley, Chicago, Princeton, Stanford, and similar schools. Research staff build relationships and gain valuable experience as part of UChicago’s rigorous intellectual environment. RPs are encouraged to attend a weekly seminar related to their own research interests.
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The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) is seeking to hire a full-time Research Professional to work with Professors Azeem Shaikh and Max Tabord-Meehan and possibly other faculty as part of BFI’s Big Data Initiative and BFI’s Predoctoral Research in Economics Program (PREP). Successful applicants will collaborate on new and ongoing research in econometric theory. The position will likely involve programming novel statistical procedures and conducting simulation experiments, as well as reading, understanding and summarizing current methodological papers in economics and statistics.
The program is intended to serve as a bridge between college and graduate school for students interested in empirical economics. Applicants must have completed a Bachelors degree by June 2021 and have strong quantitative and programming skills. Candidates with research experience are strongly preferred, especially those with experience in Stata, R, Python or Matlab. The ideal candidate would begin on July 1, 2021 and work for BFI for one or two years before applying to graduate school in Economics or another quantitative social science. BFI offers competitive salary and employee benefits.
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The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) is seeking to hire a full-time Research Professional to work with Professors Ali Hortacsu and Chad Syverson as part of BFI’s Industrial Organization Initiative and BFI’s Predoctoral Research in Economics Program (PREP). The BFI IO initiative sponsors projects in all areas connected to the economics of industry. Research professionals work closely with faculty on project areas including but not limited to theoretical and empirical work on strategic firm interactions, estimation of demand and production functions, advertising and information asymmetries, regulations and their impact on firm performance and broader economic outcomes, the design of market mechanisms for private and public sector applications. Requirements: mastery of undergraduate econometrics and statistics, and proficiency in R/Python/Stata and robust software development practices.
The program is intended to serve as a bridge between college and graduate school for students interested in empirical economics. Applicants must have completed a Bachelors degree by June 2021 and have strong quantitative and programming skills. Candidates with research experience are strongly preferred, especially those with experience in Stata, R, Python or Matlab. The ideal candidate would begin on July 1, 2021 and work for BFI for one or two years before applying to graduate school in Economics or another quantitative social science. BFI offers competitive salary and employee benefits.
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The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) is seeking to hire a full-time Research Professional to work with Oeindrila Dube, Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy. Successful candidates will work directly with Professor Dube and co-authors as a part of BFI’s Initiative for the Study of Gender in the Economy and BFI’s Predoctoral Research in Economics Program (PREP). Professor Dube does empirical research at the intersection of development economics and political economy. The position entails collaboration on new and ongoing research on the topics of media markets, gender equity, female labor market participation, and links between poverty and violent conflict in regions such as the Middle East and Africa. Part of the job entails working with big datasets, e.g., terabytes of digital trace data. This is a unique opportunity to learn how to work with such data.
The program is intended to serve as a bridge between college and graduate school for students interested in empirical economics. Applicants must have completed a Bachelors degree by June 2021 and have strong quantitative and programming skills. Candidates with research experience are strongly preferred, especially those with experience in Stata, R, Python or Matlab. The ideal candidate would begin on July 1, 2021 and work for BFI for one or two years before applying to graduate school in Economics or another quantitative social science. BFI offers competitive salary and employee benefits.
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The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) is seeking to hire a full-time Research Professional to work with Joshua Gottlieb, Associate Professor, Harris Public Policy; Deputy Director of BFI Health Economics Initiative on ongoing and new research projects related to research in health and labor economics, including the complexity of health insurance policies, healthcare paperwork, physician behavior, and healthcare labor markets. Applicants must be available to begin work in July 2021.
Successful candidates will work directly with Professor Gottlieb and co-authors as part of BFI’s Predoctoral Research in Economics Program (PREP). The program is intended to serve as a bridge between college and graduate school for students interested in empirical economics. Applicants must have completed a Bachelors degree by June 2021 and have strong quantitative and programming skills. Candidates with research experience are strongly preferred, especially those with experience in Stata, R, Python or Matlab. The ideal candidate would begin on July 1, 2021 and work for BFI for one or two years before applying to graduate school in Economics or another quantitative social science. BFI offers competitive salary and employee benefits.