Title: Senior Policy Associate
Req Number: mit-00006532
Department: Department Of Economics
Location(s): Cambridge MA
FT/PT: Full Time
Employment / Payroll Category: SRS (Research)
Work Shift:

SENIOR POLICY ASSOCIATE, Economics-Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), to join a network of researchers who collect evidence on what works in fighting poverty by evaluating programs using randomized trials. J-PAL aims to translate this research into action by disseminating findings and their implications directly to policy practitioners -international agencies, NGOs, and governments. As the number of completed randomized evaluations has grown dramatically, so has the need to draw out policy lessons and reach out to policymakers. The SPA will lead this work. Duties include undertaking cross-sectoral comparative cost effectiveness reviews of J-PAL research, putting costs and impacts of studies within a sector on a comparable numerical metric basis; using underlying data and interacting with studies' authors to understand how they constructed estimates; overseeing research assistants working with large datasets; drawing out and presenting policy conclusions from individual studies and collections of studies within a given sector; creating material to be used in a variety of ways, e.g., web, publications, and presentations; employing clear, precise, nontechnical writing; and understanding what the relevant issues are for policy makers and using language they understand. This is a senior-level position that reports to J-PAL's executive director.

REQUIREMENTS: a policy and research background, a graduate degree in economics, roughly ten years' experience working as an economist at least partly in a policy capacity, ability to present in a way that resonates with policymakers, strong attention to detail, ability to manage, and strong interpersonal skills. MIT-00006532

8/9/09