The Kellogg Finance Department is looking for highly skilled and motivated individuals to work as full-time Empirical Research Associates for a period of at least one year. We will begin reviewing applications on October 17, 2023, and will continue reviewing applications as they are received after that date until the positions are filled.
The position entails close collaboration on a number of finance projects with specific members of the department. Specifically, we are recruiting in the following areas (listed in alphabetical order by faculty sponsor); details are included in the attached pages for each position. Please indicate by checking boxes on the accompanying form the area(s) you are most interested in:
1. Empirical Corporate and Business History. Faculty sponsor: Carola Frydman
2. Finance and Development. Faculty sponsors: Sean Higgins, Jacopo Ponticelli.
3. FinTech, Finance, and Development. Faculty sponsor: Sean Higgins.
4. Labor and Finance. Faculty sponsors: Maddalena Ronchi, Sean Higgins.
5. International Macro-Finance Theory. Faculty sponsor: Zhengyang Jiang.
6. Empirical Corporate/Household Finance, Innovation, and Labor Economics. Faculty sponsors: David Matsa, Filippo Mezzanotti.
7. Financial Intermediation, FinTech, and Household Finance. Faculty sponsor: Gregor Matvos.
8. Macro-Finance, Technology and Labor. Faculty sponsors: Dmitris Papanikolaou, Bryan Seegmiller.
9. Data, Payments, and Competition in Financial Intermediation. Faculty sponsor: Lulu Wang.
10. Empirical Research Generalist. Faculty sponsor: Varies by project.
Research duties vary, but may include: performing statistical analyses on large databases utilizing Stata, MATLAB, Python, R and other programming languages; designing and running experiments; scraping data from websites and non-traditional data sources; and conducting literature reviews. Previous holders of this position have participated in graduate courses at Northwestern during their time as research fellows (including macroeconomics, microeconomics, asset pricing, and real analysis) and gone on to top Ph.D. programs in economics and finance including Chicago, Princeton, Kellogg, MIT, NYU, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Yale.
The ideal candidate will have a strong quantitative background and programming skills, and the ability to work independently. Prior background in economics or finance is useful but not necessary; we welcome candidates with strong technical backgrounds who are looking for more exposure in these fields. This opportunity is ideal for candidates looking to develop their empirical and theoretical skills in preparation for pursuing a graduate program in economics or finance.
Please attach the following to your application:
1. The form indicating which position(s) you are interested in applying to (available through Qualtrics inatke form).
2. A cover letter briefly describing your career or academic goals, your experience as research assistant or other experience with economic research (e.g., senior thesis), and a description of your programming background;
3. A current CV;
4. Complete undergraduate and graduate transcripts (unofficial is fine).
The starting date is negotiable, but it should be no later than July 1, 2024. We pay competitive salaries and provide standard benefits such as health insurance. Note for international applicants: Kellogg will provide the research fellow with the necessary J-1 Research Scholar visa, subject to USCIS rules and regulations.
Questions can be directed to finrecruiting@kellogg.northwestern.edu