New York University

Description

The candidate will be supervised by Professor Jordan J Norris, will be part of his research team in spatial economics, and join the project(s) as a co-author. The research broadly deals with understanding how location affects economic activity.

Topics include:

• Spatial inequality: how and why does economic prosperity vary across cities, regions, and countries?
• Spatial interdependence: how locations are interconnected by networks (e.g. supply chains, social networks) and what are the economic consequences of these (e.g. on economic growth, macroeconomic policies)
• Spatial policy: what is the best policy to influence economic outcomes, taking the above into account (e.g. promoting economic mobility; ensuring self-sustaining rather than transitory impacts) 

The candidate will be involved in all stages of the research project and expected to take responsibility in pushing the research forward. The ideal candidate will minimize the time burden on Prof Norris: anything they can do to achieve this is highly valued. Please emphasize qualities pertaining to this in your application.

Responsibility

• Data collection and cleaning. Collecting the data from the relevant sources (typically available on-line, either in public or academic databases), and cleaning the data.
• Regression analysis. Such as using OLS, IV, panel, spatial econometrics. Expect the assistant to take initiative in exploring the results and in investigating robustness.
• Quantitative analysis. Potentially apply economic models, for example using Monte Carlo simulations.
• Documentation. Provide well-commented code, write up results in reports and create tables and figures communicating the findings. These must be sufficiently clear such that I or someone else can continue from where you left-off, if necessary.
• Literature review. Review prior work to help inform directions we will take in the project
• Paper writing. Writing up the findings in an academic paper.

The candidate will also work on individualized research projects under the supervision of the faculty during the duration of his/her tenure.

Qualifications

Required Education

• Ph.D. in Economics or similar quantitative discipline (Computational Social Science, Computer Science, etc)

Preferred Education

• Masters degree in Economics or similar quantitative discipline

Required Skills

• Data analysis including knowledge of econometrics/statistics
• Data management: collection, organization, cleaning
• Programming language skills, especially with statistical languages (e.g. STATA)
• Project management: management of code (organization, commenting, version history, etc), time
• Interpersonal skills: teamwork, communication (including ability to intuitively explain technical concepts)
• Organizational skills: proactive, independence, initiative, critical thinking, problem solving, responsive

Preferred Skills

• Experience with GIS/satellite data/etc
• Relevant economic theory (models in international trade, urban, labor, etc)
• Experience with quantitative economic modeling (e.g. trade/spatial models), Monte Carlo simulations, and associated software (e.g. Matlab)
• Familiarity with the relevant literature