Heidi L. Williams

Apply by 6-Feb: NBER Innovation Research Boot Camp, July 11-17

With support from Open Philanthropy:

- classes: Pierre Azoulay, Kevin Bryan, Ina Ganguli, Ben Jones, Chad Jones, Kyle Myers, and me

- panel: Matt Clancy, Dylan Matthews, Caleb Watney

- keynotes: Glenn Hubbard & Ronnie Chatterji

On Tuesday 1/21 at AEI, hear about infrastructure permitting from:
- Michael Strain
- James Coleman, Thomas Hochman, Brian Potter, and Alec Stapp on policy options, and
- Joe Kile, Eric Lewis, Zach Liscow, and me on the economic effects of changes in permitting

www.aei.org/events/how-w...

Re-posting this call for applications targeting PhD students and early career researchers (PhDs 2014 or later) doing research on the fiscal and economic effects of three productivity policies: R&D, permitting, and immigration.

Applications due at midnight on Thurs January 16.

Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship Support Identifying and Developing Mathematical Talent among Youth

Can we improve how we identify and develop mathematical talent among youth?

This PhD fellowship program is accepting applications for a second cohort!

Deadline to apply is midnight on Monday, January 5, 2025.

Details available here: www.nber.org/career-resou...

(5) Students will be assigned a mentor from the agency, as well as an academic faculty mentor (who agrees to meet with the fellow at least quarterly).

(4) The fellowship will follow the budget for similar NBER fellowships: $34k stipend, up to $13k tuition, and a small amount of additional research support.

(3) Eligibility for non-US citizens would be specific to each agency. CBO eligibility has no nationality restriction.

(2) Administratively, applicants must be enrolled as full-time Ph.D. students at a U.S. or Canadian university and must have advanced to dissertation candidacy status by the start of the fellowship period.

Details about the program here: 9eqnmuz49ro.typeform.com/to/oK9iPwRV

Summary of a few logistical details:

(1) These fellowships are residential at the relevant agency, with students adhering to the same in-person work expectations as agency staff.

I am very grateful to Doug Elmendorf (Harvard Kennedy School), Ted Gayer (Niskanen Center), Zach Liscow (Yale Law), and Donald Marron (Urban Institute) for agreeing to serve with me on the selection committee for these fellowships.

Deadline to apply is midnight EST on Thursday 30 January 2025.

This program is possible thanks to generous financial support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Analysis Group, and an anonymous donor.

Personally, I would have found the opportunity to do rigorous, non-partisan economic policy research at one of these agencies, on topics currently of interest to Congress, invaluable for discovering policy-relevant research ideas.

This fellowship provides funding for PhD students in economics and economics-adjacent fields (public policy, health policy) to spend a year in CBO’s dissertation fellows program, or in analogous positions at CRS and MedPAC.

Recently, CBO, CRS, and MedPAC have identified opportunities for PhD students to collaborate on non-partisan economic policy research.

CBO’s (unfunded) dissertation fellows program is one example: phg.tbe.taleo.net/phg03/ats/ca...

Each year, the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) hosts PhD students as staff economists (a great opportunity!).

But PhD students have not traditionally had similar opportunities at the Congressional support agencies.

I’m excited to share a funded year-long PhD student fellowship, combining non-partisan economic policy research & public service at:

- Congressional Budget Office
- Congressional Research Service
- Medicare Payment Advisory Commission

Deadline is Thursday 30 January 2025

I hope this investment will expand the base of research available to support the work of federal agencies like CBO in providing non-partisan information to Congress and the public on the expected effects of policy changes on the federal budget and the US economy.

I am very grateful to the Sloan Foundation and the NBER for supporting this effort to expand research on the fiscal and economic effects of innovation and productivity policies, as well as the number of researchers working on this topic.

Applications will be reviewed by Katharine Abraham (Maryland), Tim Bresnahan (Stanford), Michael Clemens (George Mason), Susan Helper (Case Western Reserve), Glenn Hubbard (Columbia), Zach Liscow (Yale), Kim Rueben (National Tax Association), Madeline Zavodny (U-North Florida), and me.

Graduate Fellowships on Fiscal and Economic Effects of Innovation and Productivity Policies

Applications are due 11:59 pm (ET) on Thursday, January 16, 2025, and will be announced by March.

Applications can be submitted via a JOE link that will be posted soon on this website: www.nber.org/graduate-fel...

3/ An invitation and financial support to participate in a workshop in Washington DC – likely in summer 2026 – that will include staff from various federal agencies.

2/ Assignment of a faculty mentor with expertise in this research field. The mentor will supplement the advising resources available to students at their home institutions.

The program is designed to provide both the dissertation fellows and the non-funded fellows with:

1/ Connection to a group of peers with similar research interests to build a network of potential collaborators.

As many as six additional early-career researchers – researchers who received their Ph.Ds. in 2014 or later, or are current PhD students -- may be selected for unfunded non-resident fellowships.

Up to six non-resident dissertation fellowships for the 2025-2026 academic year are open to PhD students in economics and economics-adjacent fields such as public policy at US and Canadian universities.

Fellows will receive a $34,000 stipend and up to $13,000 in tuition.

A Call for New Research on Energy and the Environment To enhance its work for the Congress, CBO is looking for new research that illuminates the effects of federal regulations on energy markets and CO2 emissions, and the effects of federal spending on ef...

On infrastructure permitting, see cbo.gov/publication/... as well as CBO’s 2023 cost estimate for H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act: www.cbo.gov/system/files...

Effects of the Immigration Surge on the Federal Budget and the Economy An increase in immigration over the 2021–2026 period boosts federal revenues as well as mandatory spending and interest on the debt in CBO’s baseline projections, lowering deficits, on net, by $0.9 tr...

On immigration, see: cbo.gov/publication/... as well as: www.cbo.gov/publication/...

Estimating the Long-Term Effects of Federal R&D Spending: CBO’s Current Approach and Research Needs This blog post explains how CBO assesses the macroeconomic effects of changes in federal spending for research and development. It also highlights areas in which additional research would enhance CBO’...

On R&D, see: cbo.gov/publication/... as well as this paper which is forthcoming in the NBER Tax Policy and the Economy volume: conference.nber.org/conf_papers/...

How Economists Could Help Inform Economic and Budget Analysis Used by the US Congress (Spring 2024) - The US Congress uses economic and budgetary projections, cost estimates for proposed legislation, and other analyses provided by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) as part of its le...

Fellows may study any aspect of innovation and productivity policies, but the focus is on three areas – R&D, immigration, and infrastructure permitting – highlighted by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in this recent paper: www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

Attention: PhD students and early-career researchers interested in the fiscal and economic effects of productivity policies -- particularly R&D, immigration, and infrastructure permitting.

Consider applying to this Sloan Foundation NBER fellowship: www.nber.org/graduate-fel...