Pre-Doctoral Research Opportunities

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.

The Macro Finance Research (MFR) Program under the auspices of the Becker Friedman Institute is seeking a highly skilled and independently motivated early career scholar to join the team as a Research Professional. MFR is led by Professor Lars Peter Hansen. 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.

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.

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.