Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

The IDE seeks to hire a Postdoctoral Associate to work on understanding the diffusion of new technologies and related management practices in the US Economy and their impact on economic outcomes for workers, firms, and the economy working with Professors Erik Brynjolfsson and Kristina McElheran. The focus will be on AI, machine learning, robotics, cloud computing, data-driven decision making, and other digital technologies that may disrupt existing business models and market structures. Excitement about technology’s impact on firm performance – and concern about its impact on incomes and employment -- are growing as rapid advances are poised to generate significant economic value and transform numerous occupations and industries. This research agenda focuses on understanding the incidence of emerging technologies in the economy, drivers of adoption, implications for firm founding and performance, and key organizational complements that promote or hinder technology use.

This work relies on non-public US Census data and will require Special Sworn Status by the time work on the project begins (July 2020). The post will grant privileged access to large administrative data sets at the frontier of data collection in this area; providing fertile ground for follow-on work in a range of areas. Topics related to entrepreneurship are particularly accessible with the data, which covers the entire US economy and over-samples small businesses. Visibility to management practices, investment in R&D, and other dimensions of the organizational context are also included in the data sets in question.

While the Census-data work will be the priority, the post-doctoral associate will have the opportunity to work with other researchers at MIT. High-level topic areas include: the effects of technology on skills and wages, mega-scale digital experimentation, platform business model economics and governance, behavioral economics, social prediction, and others. Our research projects balance rigor and relevance, aiming to produce papers for top academic journals while also informing policy and practice through other contributions.

Requirements
Highly motivated postdoctoral researcher with extensive experience in (1) data processing, data analysis, and econometrics; and (2) familiarity with and interest in the literatures on economics of digitization, innovation, organizational economics, and/or business strategy. Must be able to work well with academics and industry executives alike. English language skills (verbal and written) must be strong. PhD in a Management Science or Economics field with the Doctorate conferred prior to start date.

Please Note: The ideal candidate will either already possess Special Sworn Status or be prepared to apply for SSS prior to joining the IDE. Knowledge of the Federal Statistical Research Data Center and experience with the Census Bureau’s Research Data Center network would be ideal. Note that applications for SSS require that the researcher has been living in the US for at least three years.

About the MIT Sloan School of Management and Initiative on the Digital Economy
The MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE – ide.mit.edu) is a team of internationally recognized thought leaders and researchers examining how people and businesses work, interact, and prosper in a time of rapid digital transformation. Key elements of our work include a robust research (35 projects across four “pillars” of research) and publication agenda; convenings for scholars, practitioners, funders, and policymakers focused on the future of work; an Inclusive Innovation Challenge that celebrates organizations doing exemplary work on how to make today's economic gains more "inclusive" and sustained; and public communications via leading national and international media outlets that help to amplify our findings to even broader, non-specialist audiences. This interconnected agenda, which builds on more than a decade of related work at MIT, has enabled the IDE to become a prominent, trusted, and non-partisan source of fact-based research at the center of a large and growing network of experts.