| The Kellogg Finance Department is looking for highly skilled and motivated individuals to work as full-time Empirical Research Associates for a period of at least one year. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the positions are filled, and must be submitted by December 1, 2020 at the latest. The position entails close collaboration on a number of finance projects with specific members of the department. Specifically, we are recruiting in the following areas; details are included in the attached pages for each position. Please indicate in your cover letter the area(s) you are most interested in: - Empirical Asset Pricing. Faculty sponsors: Torben Andersen, Ravi Jagannathan, Viktor Todorov.
- Empirical Corporate/Household Finance. Faculty sponsors: Anthony DeFusco, Filippo Mezzanotti.
- Finance and Development. Faculty sponsors: Sean Higgins and Jacopo Ponticelli.
- FinTech, Finance, and Development. Faculty sponsor: Sean Higgins.
Research duties vary, but may include: performing statistical analyses on large databases utilizing Stata, MATLAB, Python, R and other programming languages; designing and running experiments; scraping data from websites and non-traditional data sources; and conducting literature reviews. Previous holders of this position have participated in graduate courses at Northwestern during their time as research fellows (including macroeconomics, microeconomics, asset pricing, and real analysis) and gone on to top Ph.D. programs such as Princeton and MIT Sloan. The ideal candidate will have a strong quantitative background and programming skills, and the ability to work independently. Prior background in economics or finance is useful but not necessary; we welcome candidates with strong technical backgrounds who are looking for more exposure in these fields. This opportunity is ideal for candidates looking to develop their empirical and theoretical skills in preparation for pursuing a graduate program in economics or finance. Please attach the following to your application: - A cover letter briefly describing your career or academic goals, your experience as research assistant or other experience with economic research (e.g., senior thesis), and a description of your programming background;
- A current CV;
- Complete undergraduate and graduate transcripts (unofficial is fine);
The starting date is negotiable, but it should be no later than July 1, 2021. We pay an average annual salary of $50,000 and provide standard benefits such as health insurance. Note for international applicants: Kellogg will provide the research fellow with the necessary J-1 Research Scholar visa, subject to USCIS rules and regulations.
Applications accepted here: Apply for Job
Northwestern University provides equal employment opportunities to all employees, students, and applicants. Northwestern University does not discriminate or permit discrimination by any member of its community against any individual on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, parental status, marital status, age, disability, citizenship, veteran status, or genetic information in matters of admissions, employment, housing, or services or in the educational programs or activities it operates.
1) Empirical Asset Pricing. Faculty sponsors: Torben Andersen, Ravi Jagannathan, Viktor Todorov.
The research assistant will provide the necessary research support involved in revising several working papers and work in progress. The applicant is advised to take a look at one of the working papers, “A Return Based Measure of Firm Quality” , NBER Working Paper 27859 http://www.nber.org/papers/w27859, to get an idea of what type of work is involved. In addition, the research assistant will also provide research support for preparing lectures for MBA classes. The work will involve learning and using various financial databases like CRSP, COMPUSTAT, TAQ, etc.; various national and international macroeconomic databases; databases from specialized data providers; corporate financial statements (10-Ks) and SEC filings. The research assistant will also be required to learn and use Bloomberg. The applicant should have taken advanced undergraduate level courses in economics and econometrics; and introductory courses in finance and accounting. The work requires proficiency in MATLAB, STATA, Excel, and either R or Python. 2) Empirical Corporate/Household Finance. Faculty sponsors: Anthony DeFusco, Filippo Mezzanotti. The job will involve close collaboration on a series of new and ongoing projects covering topics broadly related to household finance, real estate finance and housing economics, innovation, corporate finance, and financial technology (FinTech). For more information on the types of research projects you would be working on, please visit our websites (linked above). Research associates that have worked with Professors DeFusco and Mezzanotti in the past have often gone on to PhD programs in finance and economics at leading institutions. Research duties include:
• Performing statistical analyses on large databases utilizing Stata, Python, or R
• Data scraping from websites and other non-traditional data sources (e.g. historical records, contracts, etc.)
• Writing up results for presentations and publications
•Conducting literature reviews
3) Finance and Development. Faculty sponsors: Jacopo Ponticelli, Sean Higgins. Our research topics include law and finance, financial development, financial inclusion, and FinTech. For more information on the types of research projects you would be working on, please visit our websites (linked above). Research associates that have worked with Professors Ponticelli and Higgins in the past have gone on to PhD programs at Berkeley, Michigan, USC, and Yale. Research duties include:
• Performing statistical analyses on large databases utilizing Stata, Python, or R
• Designing and running experiments
• Writing up results for presentations and publications
• Conducting literature reviews 4) FinTech, Finance, and Development. Faculty sponsors: Sean Higgins. Research topics include financial inclusion and FinTech in developing countries. For more information on the types of research projects you would be working on, please visit Professor Higgins’s website (linked above). Research associates that have worked with Professors Higgins in the past have gone on to PhD programs at Berkeley and Yale. Research duties include:
• Performing statistical analyses on large databases utilizing R and/or Python
• Designing and running experiments
• Writing up results for presentations and publications
• Conducting literature reviews | 
