Research Assistant

The Research Assistant (RA) program at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is a two-year commitment designed for recent college graduates with a background in economics, mathematics, statistics, finance, computer science, or related fields.

Research Assistants’ work supports the academic research and policy work of staff economists for the department of Research, Policy, and Public Engagement. Topics of interest to our economists include micro and macroeconomics, finance, regional economics, insurance markets, and economic inequality and inclusion. Research and policy projects help to inform and direct the Bank’s efforts to achieve its mission.

Research Assistants will work with a variety of economists on their specified team to acquire skills in how to work with data in order to answer research and policy questions. Such skills are valuable especially when pursuing graduate studies in economics and related fields, but also for careers in industry, policy, and/or the non-profit sector.

Responsibilities

Research Assistants can expect to undertake tasks that include quantitative research analyses using economic and financial data. They work with economists on time-critical analysis of current economic data vital for policy work. RAs also help economists in conducting long-term academic research on a wide-range of empirical and theoretical topics.

Specifically, Research Assistants:

• Conduct statistical and economic analyses with macroeconomic, microeconomic, and regional data to support economists’ research. This support includes collecting and cleaning data, conducting moderately complex statistical analysis, writing code for model estimation, evaluating market developments, estimating forecast models, and organizing the presentation of results.
• Prepare a variety of charts, tables, and descriptive text for department management or other staff economists to use in their briefings of the President and the Board of Directors.
• Plan and execute research projects under the guidance of manager and department researchers
• Coordinate research projects and direct activities of research assistants and other staff, as assigned.
  
  Your Education and Experience
• Bachelor’s degree (at minimum) with a strong quantitative background (econometrics, statistics, advanced calculus, or computer programming)
• Evidence of aptitude for quantitative and analytical skills
• Exposure to and experience using data/programming languages
• Demonstrated interest in economics

Your Knowledge and Skills

• Knowledge of and ability to apply economic theory and quantitative analysis techniques under the general supervision of department researchers.
• Ability to use PC standard and statistical programs, such as but not limited to R, Python, STATA, MATLAB, ArcGIS, etc. to organize data and to perform advanced statistical and econometric analyses.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong organizational and planning skills.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.

To apply:

Resume
Cover Letter
Undergraduate+ Transcript (unofficial is acceptable)
At least TWO references (name, contact information) that can speak to your aptitude in research - submitted separately from your resume
ONE letter of recommendation (can overlap with references) - please have your recommender submit a letter directly to: ResearchAssistantLOR@chi.frb.org with your LAST NAME, FIRST NAME in the subject line of the email.