_____________________________________________________________________________________

ALL the Spring RA Positions are now CLOSED. Please do NOT contact the researchers about these positions.

Hye Rim Yi (PhD Student)  – POSITION CLOSED
Trade Shocks
Collecting data on countervailing and anti-dumping investigations initiated by U.S. Commerce from Federal Register notices.
Detail-oriented

Stephan Thies (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
1) Transit Pricing and Labor Market Monopsony Power
The project investigates to what degree transit pricing impacts employer’s labor market power. We hypothesise that low transit prices allow workers to switch jobs more easily leading to better job matches and lower discriminatory power of employers. We investigate this hypothesis empirically in the context of Germany where the government introduced a heavily subsidized country-wide public transit ticket in 2023.
We need support in collecting information on transit prices for different origin-destination commute routes in Germany. This includes expanding and improving code for an existing web scraper in Python, as well as manual data collection using price information available on various websites of German transit agencies. Required skills: Python coding + web scraping / German language skills. Interest in labor, urban, transport, or applied micro-economics is a plus. Knowledge of working with spatial data in R is also a plus but not required.

2) Equilibrium Welfare Effects of Local Pollution from Traffic. Evidence from London
This project investigates the equilibrium welfare effects of local air and noise pollution from car traffic. Using detailed information on the universe of property sales in the UK, it quantifies the impacts of local traffic on house prices and translates these impacts into estimates of households willingness to pay to avoid exposure to car traffic. Incorporating these estimates into a quantitative spatial model of residential, workplace, and commute mode choices, the project investigates implications of local traffic pollution for the design of the public transit network and optimal congestion charges.
Skills: Spatial data analysis in R and/or transport network analysis in Python. Interests: Environmental, Transport and Urban Economics Tasks: Data collection and cleaning to generate a routable traffic network in R or Python, running accessibility analysis in Python, reviewing selected literature

Eshaan Patel (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
Power, Targeting, and Firm Growth
There are dramatic differences in institutions and power across countries. In a context with weak institutions, are powerful firms able to use the political sector to target their less powerful competitors? This project seeks to identify the implications of this channel using data from Latin America to see if it can explain aggregate data on firm size and growth. RAs will have the opportunity to develop skills in applied economic research and data analysis more broadly.
The main task will involve digitizing political contributions data from PDF format to CSV and cross-validating extracted data. Tasks require basic knowledge of Spanish. Prior digitization experience is useful but not required.

Palaash Bhargava (PhD Student)  – POSITION CLOSED
Student Social Networks and Teacher Agency in Indian Schools
The project aims to uncover socio-emotional deficiencies that relatively isolated students face in Indian private schools and whether teachers are aware of the challenges the students face. The project then delves into interventions such as changing deskmate assignments, updating class teachers with specific information about students to understand whether cost effective simple nudges can lead to improvements in the social position and skills of isolated students.
The RA will help with data analysis, creation of reports that need to be sent to schools and cleaning of raw data collected from primary surveys collected in Spring and fall 2024. Proficiency in Stata is a must. Proficiency in Python is preferred.

Patrick Farrell (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
Export Restrictions as Industrial Policy
Export restrictions are increasingly popular instruments of industrial policy, adopted by both developing and developed countries in various forms and for differing rationales. Restrictions and bans on the export of raw materials, particularly critical minerals necessary for the green transition, have been implemented by many developing countries to spur the development of domestic industry. The RA would be assisting with the empirical portion of this study. This will likely focus on Indonesia’s ban on the export of unprocessed nickel and the subsequent development of domestic nickel processing capacity, critical to the EV battery supply chain.
I need an RA who has familiarity with GIS tools and Stata. Indonesian language familiarity would be a huge plus. The RA would assist with identifying the locations of mines and smelters from 2010-present. We would collect data on the strength of export restrictions and the granting of export licenses prior to the full nickel export ban

 

Isabella Di Filippo (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
Unemployment Insurance in the U.S.
I’m looking for a motivated student interested in gaining a deeper understanding of how unemployment insurance operates and is funded in the U.S. The RA position will support research on unemployment insurance and its interaction with worker characteristics and industry sectors. These projects sit at the intersection of public, labor, and gender economics.
I am looking for an RA who is precise and thorough to help me better understand the institutional background, details, and policies related to unemployment insurance in the U.S. The RA will compile tables and summaries on these topics, carefully document sources, and assist in exploring potential data sources relevant to my analysis.

Hannah Farkas (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
Disastrous data: What newly digitized FEMA records tell us about the political economy of disaster aid
We create a novel dataset of digitized historic FEMA records of preliminary damage assessments which detail initial reports of severity of impacts and requests for aid in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Using these reports, we examine the localized political economy of emergency disaster declaration and aid dispersal in the United States and how political biases exacerbate or mitigate inequalities in disaster recovery.
Manually going through FEMA reports and comparing them to the data set we built to correct any errors that occurred when initially text scraping them.

Dongcheng Yang (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
Credit Guarantee and Financial Misallocation
This project examines how government-backed credit guarantees influence bank-firm relationships and firms’ access to debt, potentially resulting in inefficient allocation of financial resources. By employing methodologies such as instrumental variables, difference-in-differences (DID), and general equilibrium modeling, the study aims to evaluate the broader economic implications of these policies.
The RA will primarily assist with data cleaning, data analysis, and literature review. The ideal candidate should be proficient in statistical software such as Stata and Python, with the ability to use ArcGIS being a plus. Japanese language skills are preferred but not required.

Catalina Gómez (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
Exploring the Intersection of Public Health and Economics – Focus on Waitlists
I am working on applied projects at the intersection of Health Economics, Public Economics, and Labor Economics, focusing primarily on Chile and Brazil, with plans to expand to U.S. data. Early stage projects. I’m interested in wait lists in healthcare. One project examines the labor market impacts of waiting times in public healthcare, while another explores the effects of changes in occupational licensing, particularly when non-medical professions gain more regulatory flexibility.|
RA needs to be interested in the broad topic (Public/Labor and Health Intersection). The following tasks can be allocated to different RAs. Data analysis in R (no need to be proficient, but motivation to learn is required). Literature review. I need one RA who can read in Spanish (native-level proficiency), review, and summarize a variety of documents.

Kate Musen (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
Child Health and Welfare Policy in the United States
I am looking for RAs to assist with multiple projects in the domain of child health and welfare policy in the United States. Topics of study include foster care reform, changes to the Medicaid program, child mental health, and historical determinants of infant health. This project is ideal for students looking to learn more about applied microeconomics research and child welfare policy. Interest in these issues is more important than advanced technical skills.
Potential tasks include literature reviews, compiling the details of relevant policy changes, background research, and data entry. Knowledge of Excel is necessary. Knowledge of Stata and of Wayback Machine is a plus but not required. If the RA is proficient in Stata, I may also ask for assistance with code review. Attention to detail, organization, clear communication, and tenacious Googling are the most important skills for this project.

Roberto Zuniga (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
Employment and weather shocks
This project aims to study the potential impacts of extreme weather conditions on local employment. We will assemble a database of subnational employment and weather conditions and then apply modern econometric tools to estimate the potential effects.
The RA will collect and compile subnational employment data from multiple sources. Then will provide assistance in analyzing the data and running panel regressions. Prior experience with either R o Python is expected.

Donato Onorato (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
1) 150 years of skin tone inequality
This project examines how skin tone inequality within racial groups shapes economic and social outcomes over 150 years (1870–present). Using historical records and modern surveys, it harmonizes data to analyze disparities in income, education, and occupation. The study employs regression, decomposition, and sibling fixed-effects to identify causal impacts and explores mechanisms like intergenerational transmission and discrimination. Preliminary findings reveal persistent skin tone disparities, offering insights to inform more nuanced, equitable policies. A research assistant will help analyze and work through a large set of historical data from the late 1800s to the present day. In particular focusing on data cleaning and analysis for several surveys.
We are looking for motivated research assistants who are interested in the subject matter and have experience using languages such as STATA or R. We have a preference for applicants who can work with big data or survey datasets or are willing to learn. Any prior experience with coding languages is a plus.

2) Nature of Firm Lobbying
The lobbying industry in the United States is large, and the origin of these lobbying revenues are often firms and industry-associations. Given the size of the lobbying industry, one immediately wonders whether lobbying is distortionary. This project aims to use modern and historical data from lobbying reports in the US along with recent advances in natural language processing to understand the nature of firm lobbying, how firms influence legislation over the lifecycle of a bill, and characteristics of firms that are effective at influencing legislation.
RAs will help clean and prepare data related to firm lobbying over the lifecycle of a bill as well as help with collecting lobbying data and congressional legislative data. An example task is extracting, cleaning, and merging output of a congressional API to existing database to get data ready for analysis. Knowledge of programming languages such as STATA, R, or Python are recommended.

 

Clara Berestycki (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
Smartphone Mobility Data, Air Pollution, and Time Allocation
This project focuses on individual adaptation behavior to air pollution with a specific focus on wildfire smoke. I use individual mobility data collected from cell phone pings to reconstruct individual time use and study how air pollution impacts allocation of time. I am also particularly interested in studying the importance of public policy interventions like air pollution alerts.
The RA would help me with tasks like downloading and classifying air pollution alerts alerts and performing preliminary data analysis using statistical software. Knowledge of either Stata, Python, or R is required.

 

Kathryn McDonald (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
Endogenous Production Networks and Trade Shocks
This project studies the restructuring of global supply chains using a novel dataset on buyer-supplier relationships for consumer retail goods. The goal of the project is to investigate the stickiness of firm-to-firm relationships and the role of bargaining power in the supply chain adjustment to shocks.
The project would require 2 RAs for data cleaning tasks and data analysis. RAs should have strong skills in Stata and/or Python, and experience working with large datasets. The RAs will be primarily assigned to cleaning the dataset. The role requires strong coding skills. Familiarity working with APIs is preferred but not required.

 

Kamelia Stavreva (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
Privatization of misdemeanor supervision in Florida and impacts on reintegration
This project asks, how does a county entering or exiting private misdemeanor probation in Florida impact reintegration of convicted individuals supervised by that county? Does contracting out an important part of the criminal justice system change the incentives of the system? It will examine the impact on individuals in particular looking at if it changes recidivism? I.e. Are private probation companies more or less likely to give out non-crime-related (technical) violations to misdemeanants than government run probation offices? Also it will look at the impact on the criminal justice system. For example, does using a private probation company change judge sentencing decisions? Do judges now take on the incentives of the probation company?
I am looking for motivated students who are interested in the subject matter and familiar with working in STATA, as well as able to do tasks like conducting literature reviews and analyzing data. I also appreciate any coding experience or willingness to learn. Familiarity with econometric methods and economic analysis is a bonus.

 

Martin Uribe (Professor) – POSITION CLOSED
Capital Controls
We are looking for students interested in applying for a part-time undergraduate research assistant position this spring, to work with Prof. Martin Uribe on an empirical macroeconomic research project focused on capital controls.
Familiarity with either Python or Stata is requested. If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your resume and most recent transcript to Jack Johnson at jfj2125@columbia.edu.

 

John Ma (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
The Crowding-Out Effect of Alternative Assets on Fixed Income Investment
Alternative asset classes like private credit, private equity, and hedge funds have grown in popularity in recent years as institutional investors seek to diversify their portfolio. In this project, we explore the extent to which investors’ increased allocation to alternatives crowds out their traditional fixed income investment. We are interested in understanding (1) how alternatives reshape the portfolios of institutional investors, (2) how and which fixed income securities are crowded out by alternatives, and (3) whether this affects market demand and pricing of fixed income.
This project is ideal for students interested in financial economics. The RA will assist me and collaborators at Columbia Business School in collecting, assembling, and analyzing data related to institutional investors’ portfolio allocation to alternative assets and fixed income. Experience with Python is required.

 

Jonathan Dingel (Faculty Member) – POSITION CLOSED
Internal Trade Barriers in India
Seeking an undergraduate RA to assist with cleaning data and running regressions to study the effects of interstate trade barriers in India on consumer welfare. Tasks might include: cleaning household-level expenditure data to produce estimates of changes in price indices and changes in household welfare; downloading food price quotes from government websites to compute local price indices; estimating non-parametric regressions to characterize shifts in Engel curves.
RA needs to be comfortable manipulating data sets with hundreds of thousands or millions of observations in Stata or R. Familiarity with local polynomial regression and consumer theory would be advantageous.

 

Nikhil Basavappa (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
Groundwater Policy and Climate Adaptation
Joint with Ricardo Pommer Muñoz. Groundwater is a critical input for Indian farmers, yet it is a finite, common pool resource with no formal regulation or governance. This has led to depletion of the water table, putting farmers at risk and hampering their ability to smooth output across climate realizations. We study a recent groundwater management policy in India, examining how it impacts farmer behavior, water availability, and climate resilience. Please note that we will move quickly on hiring decisions, so if you are interested in the position, let us know sooner rather than later.
Prior coding experience (especially with R or Python) will help, but it is not necessary. Willingness to learn, communication skills, and responsiveness are critical.

Ankit Bhutani (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
Private Equity, Stock Market Returns, and the Macroeconomy
The rise in VC and PE funding enables many successful startups to delay going public, limiting public market investors’ access to significant returns and diversification from fast-growing private firms. This project explores the implications for stock market investors and the broader economy by examining stock returns and the growth of public and private companies. Working on this project can be a useful experience for students looking to gain experience in data analysis as well as exposure to datasets used frequently by academic researchers as well as finance industry professionals.
As an RA, you will work on analyzing data from multiple sources, creating graphs, and running regressions. Some examples include working with data on risk and return in the stock market and private firms. We expect the student to have a working knowledge of at least one programming language preferably Python, R, Julia, or Stata.

 

Kate Kennedy-Moulton (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
Medical Innovation and Disparities in Health
This project investigates the potential for medical innovation to reduce or increase disparities in health. Which hospitals decide to adopt new technologies and why? Who gets access first?
Potential tasks include background research, literature review, data entry, and descriptive analysis. The research may include working with ICD, CPT, and HCPCS codes but prior experience is not necessary. Coding skills in Stata are a plus. They may also work on other projects broadly related to health economics.

 

Nicholas Zevanove (PhD Student) – POSITION CLOSED
The Geopolitics of Government Debt
The US and China lend money to governments in developing countries. This project seeks to compare the lending practices of the US and China and understand to what extent geopolitics motivates their lending decisions. Relatedly, this project will study whether the US and China use debt to extract foreign policy concessions from borrower countries.
RAs on this project will help build a dataset on country-to-country lending (e.g., by reviewing IMF and World Bank documents and/or performing data entry), summarize research papers, and possibly produce data figures. Although not required, proficiency in Stata is preferred. This project is a great fit for those interested in international macroeconomics and foreign policy.

 

Stephanie Schmitt-Grohé (Professsor) – POSITION CLOSED
Exercises in Open Economy Macroeconomics textbook
Professor Schmitt-Grohé is searching for a UG or MA RA to create a github site to host existing solutions to the Exercises in her textbook Open Economy Macroeconomics, co-authored with Professor Martin Uribe, Princeton University Press and a discussion environment.
Candidates at the intersection of computer science and economics are preferred. Necessary skills are LaTeX and familiarity with / or the ability to quickly learn a web-based platform, like github.