MDRC

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

MDRC is seeking a PhD economist to be part of our project teams conducting evaluations of programs designed to improve the employment and earnings, family well-being, education, and health of low-income families and to reduce their need to rely on public assistance. We are especially interested in economists with an empirical focus and training in labor economics, behavioral economics, or cost/benefit analysis. MDRC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan social policy research organization that values rigorous research and the opportunity to contribute to both academic-style research and policymaking. MDRC has an interdisciplinary research staff, including PhDs in economics, sociology, psychology, social work, education, and public policy. We are at the forefront of developing new quantitative techniques for the evaluation of social programs. Opportunities exist in our Health and Barriers to Employment, Young Adult and Postsecondary Education and Low-Wage Workers and Communities policy areas.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, participating in the design of evaluations and data collection strategies, working with sites in our studies to implement research plans, conducting quantitative analyses, and preparing reports and journal articles presenting our findings. Current projects are evaluating programs providing incentives to families to improve their self-sufficiency, programs to support the reentry of released prisoners into communities, employment and training services, services to assist disabled persons to return to work, and cost-reduction strategies in Medicaid. MDRC is conducting a wide variety of tests — from conditional cash transfers to an earned income tax credit for singles, from the teaching of math concepts to preschool children to a reform of the payment structure in the federal Pell grant program, from transformative high school reforms to rent reforms in subsidized housing, and from rethinking the teaching of developmental education courses in community colleges to preventing recidivism of adolescents released from Rikers Island jail. We have been a pioneer in the use of Social Impact Bonds and in the federal government’s various innovation funding streams, including the Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation initiative and the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Social Innovation Funds. Across all of this work is an emerging focus on the role that impact variation and scaling play in the replication of effective programs.

To qualify, a candidate must have a PhD in economics or be expecting to receive one this academic year. She or he should have an empirical focus and training in labor economics, behavioral economics, or cost/benefit analysis. A candidate should also have the ability to conduct applied research focused on important public policy issues and a desire to work within a multidisciplinary, team-oriented environment.

The successful candidate will be based in MDRC’s New York City or Oakland office. Salary will be commensurate with experience. Comprehensive fringe benefits offered.

Only candidates selected for further consideration will be contacted.

MDRC is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or protected Veteran status. Legal work authorization required.