ideas42

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

Who We Are:
ideas42 uses behavioral economics to improve social welfare. We create innovative solutions to problems in economic mobility, health, education, safety and justice, consumer finance, energy efficiency and international development. Working closely with our partners from government, foundations, NGOs and companies, we have more than 80 active projects in the United States and around the world.

The Role:
At ideas42, the Chief Economist is part of the leadership team and is responsible for ensuring that the work of the organization reflects both the fundamentals of economic theory as well as the latest in current scholarship. The role includes but is not limited to:

Project Selection:
Advises Executive Team on the economic and policy perspectives informing project and portfolio development to ensure and maximize relevance, connection to literature, empirical rigor, and potential for social impact
Assists team members with development of projects and portfolios with an eye to implications for social welfare
Supports the development of efforts to measure and track social impact across the organization
Provides feedback and support to teams on the economic and policy dimensions of domain and focus area strategies

Academic Engagement:
Develops and owns a strategy for coordinating with academic affiliates particularly in economics
Engages with the academic and think tank community though writing papers and speaking at seminars
Fosters connections between academic partners and ideas42 staff and projects
Builds a robust pipeline for getting ideas42 projects' results into academic journals and other outlets

Empirical Rigor:
Holds final responsibility for ensuring the rigor, quality, and credibility of empirical results across the organization
Supervises and provides guidance and input to Vice President for Applied Research and Evaluation, who oversees day-to-day review of experiment design and empirical analysis

Policy Impact:
Leads and coordinates organization efforts focused on conducting work to influence public policy
Works to develop new projects and funding for projects that lead to policy conclusions
Engages with the think tank and policy research community though papers, seminars, meetings, etc.

Who Are We Looking For?
The successful candidate will be comfortable working both independently and across a large team, advising and being part of senior leadership within the organization, and thinking critically and supporting the overall rigor of the work across the organization.

Required Qualifications:
PhD in Economics in fields in applied microeconomics such as labor or public finance
Familiarity or comfort with behavioral economics and/or applied behavioral science more broadly
At least 10 years working in a research and / or policy position
Fluency in Stata (and/or equivalent languages such as R).
Previous experience designing, conducting, and evaluating field experiments
Superb communication skills, both written and verbal; experience with and ability to effectively speak to and write for diverse audiences, including academics, policymakers, practitioners, and the public
A natural problem-solver with excellent prioritization skills, capable of successfully managing competing priorities and multiple deadlines
Ability to work independently and to serve as an ambassador for the organization

Preferred Qualifications:
Research and publication record in behavioral economics
Prior experience in nonprofit, think tank, and / or social impact organizations