The American Dream – the aspiration that all children should have opportunities to climb the economic ladder – is at risk. In the 1950s, more than 90% of American children grew up to earn more than their parents did. Today, only 50% of children do so.
The mission of the Equality of Opportunity Project (EOP) -- a joint initiative of faculty at Stanford, Harvard, and Brown Universities -- is to revive the American Dream. We create and apply new research to inform scalable policy solutions that will empower families to rise out of poverty and achieve better life outcomes. We do this by harnessing the power of big data through high-quality research to learn from areas where the American Dream is still thriving. We study economic mobility through lenses such as education, neighborhood environments, and health to understand the drivers of economic opportunity in the country and give local policymakers customized data and insights to help them craft effective policy solutions. (You can hear an overview of our work on this Freakonomics podcast.)
The Project’s work to date has shaped policy discussions at the national and local level, with nearly a dozen of its studies covered on the front pages of major media outlets, such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal and cited in congressional testimony and President Obama’s State of the Union addresses. This work has led to direct impacts on a broad range of decisions by local policy makers, ranging from school districts to housing authorities. The objective of our new policy shop is to expand the impact of our research findings on local policy, by dedicating a small team to collaborate with and support local government partners as they design new policies to improve opportunity in their communities, based, in part, on our detailed diagnostic data and insights. To accomplish this, our teams become fluent in our research and its implications for each partner, so they are able to effectively identify obstacles to mobility and develop tailored programs in response to those barriers.
Our team, led by MacArthur “genius” award winner Raj Chetty, John Friedman, and Nathan Hendren, consists of leaders from academia, policy, and management, supported by a staff of approximately 40 members who share a passion to revive the American Dream. We are now seeking Quantitative Policy Analysts who will support the EOP Policy Director and engage with state and local government agencies to analyze and interpret EOP’s location-specific findings. These Analysts will work with local policymakers using our data and insights to address major barriers to upward mobility. This may include assisting in coordinating the diagnostic process and performing econometric analyses to supplement existing insights.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
PARTNER ENGAGEMENT
- Liaise with current local government partners and stakeholders.
- Act as a reference to partners on diagnostic analytics based on our existing research.
- Work alongside local partners to support interventions and assist with implementation, as necessary.
POLICY PROJECT SUPPORT
- Support and perform analyses and produce insights to shed light on the magnitude and drivers of local economic inequality, using large-scale administrative data sets.
- Draft non-technical reports on impacts and findings from partnerships.
KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATION
- Support the Policy Director in publicizing and spurring adoption of insights and tools generated by EOP, including preparing presentation materials for events.
REQUIREMENTS:
BACKGROUND/EXPERIENCE
- Experience with substantive issues of public policy, particularly housing, education or health policy.
- Quantitative training, including econometrics, policy analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and/or evaluation design.
- Minimum Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, with 2+ years of work experience a plus.
SPECIFIC JOB SKILLS
- Strong communication and ability to uphold high professional standards in interactions with internal and external stakeholders.
- Ability to translate technical findings, including econometric analyses, into actionable policy-relevant summaries for non-technical audiences.
- Quantitative analysis and programming skills. Our team works in STATA, but we value equivalent experience in Python, R and other platforms if skills are adaptable across computing environments.
COMPETENCIES
- Adaptability, dependability and enthusiasm for EOP’s mission.
- Willingness to travel.
- Ability to collaborate with and take instruction from different stakeholders and teams.
- Integrity to uphold own and organization’s expectations for high-quality work.
- Sensitivity to stakeholders’ opportunities, constraints and objectives.
- Personal accountability for consistent application of processes and policies.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
REPORTING LINE: Reports to Policy Director
LOCATION: Positions are currently available in Palo Alto, CA; Providence, RI; or Cambridge, MA
HOW TO APPLY
Please submit a cover letter, resume and any location constraints to Caitlin_Petruska@brown.edu and Alaina_Angellis@brown.edu detailing your qualifications and interest in joining the EOP Policy team.
In addition, please prepare to submit a cover letter, resume and names and contact information for 3 references through the online application on the Harvard Careers website (additional information forthcoming).
