PhD Positions in Applied Macroeconomics and Political Economy

As a doctoral researcher, you will develop a dissertation in applied macroeconomics, public finance and/or political economy. With support and guidance from the supervisory team, you will progressively take ownership of your research projects and use econometric methods and relevant macroeconomic and/or microeconomic data to address questions of academic and policy relevance. Your activities will include: developing research questions and research designs and contributing to original academic papers, collecting, documenting and analysing datasets, which may include firm-level, country-level, geospatial, administrative, survey or text data, discussing and presenting your research at internal seminars, academic workshops and international conferences, taking part in the research activities of the Chair and KOF, including regular research meetings and seminars, completing coursework within the D-MTEC doctoral programme, depending on your interests and the needs of the Chair, contributing to teaching activities in a limited capacity.

The Chair of Applied Macroeconomics is associated with the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich and is part of the Department of Management, Technology and Economics (D-MTEC). We invite applications for one or more PhD positions in Applied Macroeconomics and Political Economy. The positions are based at KOF and affiliated with the Chair of Applied Macroeconomics. The doctoral researchers will join a supportive and collaborative research environment that brings together empirical research and policy-relevant questions in macroeconomics, international economics, public finance and political economy. KOF is Switzerland’s leading academic institute for applied economic research and provides independent data, analysis and assessments for politics, business and society.

• a Master’s degree in Economics or a closely related field, completed by the time the position begins

• an interest in empirical research addressing relevant economic and public-policy questions

• an interest in applied macroeconomics, international economics, public finance and/or political economy

• a sound foundation in econometrics, statistics and quantitative analysis

• experience with at least one statistical programming language, such as Stata, R or Python, and an openness to learning additional tools

• the ability to communicate your ideas clearly in written and spoken English

• an interest in contributing to a collaborative research environment while developing your ability to plan and conduct your own research

• panel-data methods, causal inference, time-series econometrics or the analysis of large microeconomic datasets

• international taxation, tax competition, tax havens, fiscal federalism or the political economy of tax policy

• an interest in developing a research-oriented career within or outside academia

• knowledge of German is welcome but not required