Pre-Doctoral Research Specialist, Business, Economics, and Public Policy Department, Wharton School

University Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn’s distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America’s Best Large Employers in 2023.

Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.

The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

Posted Job Title

Pre-Doctoral Research Specialist, Business, Economics, and Public Policy Department, Wharton School

Job Profile Title

Research Specialist A

Job Description Summary

Wharton School Overview
Founded in 1881 as the world’s first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With campuses in Philadelphia and San Francisco, Wharton has over 850 staff, a faculty population of more than 235 renowned professors, and 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students. Each year, 13,000 professionals worldwide advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education’s individual, company-customized, and online programs. More than 104,000 Wharton alumni form a powerful global network of leaders who transform business every day. Wharton is home to a diverse staff population representing a rich array of backgrounds, expertise, and cultures. To learn more, visit www.wharton.upenn.edu.

The successful candidate will support research by Professors Arthur van Benthem, Susanna Berkouwer, Benjamin Lockwood, Corinne Low, Judd Kessler, and Alex Rees-Jones. Topics energy and the environment and/or development economics (van Benthem, Berkouwer); public and behavioral economics (Lockwood, Rees-Jones); labor, gender, and experimental economics (Low, Kessler). There are several open positions.

Examples of recent projects include:

Berkouwer and van Benthem: efficiency losses from imperfect environmental policies, energy efficiency adoption, carbon offsets, infrastructure construction, land protection and biodiversity, and hurricane insurance.

Rees-Jones and Lockwood: evaluating the merits of state-run lotteries, using wealth taxes to reduce inequality, studying strategies to reduce tax evasion, assessing the role of tax complexity, conducting welfare analysis that incorporates behavioral biases, and assessing the promise of new mechanisms for matching students to schools.

Low and Kessler: Studying the impact of grade-optional policies, running experiments to measure hiring bias among employers, examining changes in women’s labor force participation over time, studying the unequal division of home production within the household, and studying mechanisms to reduce hiring bias.

You will join Wharton’s Department of Business Economics and Public Policy (BEPP) and become part of a cohort of predoctoral research fellows. BEPP offers many opportunities for personal and professional development through learning new technical skills, attending seminars, and taking courses. In some instances, predoc RAs have become co-authors of a