2026-27 AY PT Research Fellowship: Political Economy of Representation Research
The Stanford King Center on Global Development’s Academic Year Part-Time Research Fellowship Program connects King Center faculty affiliates and affiliated researchers with undergraduate students committed to providing research support during autumn, winter, and spring quarters. Students have the opportunity to engage in world-class research that has real-world impact. Undergraduate student research fellows are paid $19/hour*. Students must be enrolled full-time to participate and must be able to commit to research 8-10 hours per week.
*Students must attend orientation and submit an I-9 form to verify employment and receive payment. Students who cannot accept pay may be allowed to receive academic credit for this research.
Research Project Description:
I am seeking a Research Fellow to assist with empirical research in political economy and development economics. The primary project examines the long-run socioeconomic impacts of political quotas for historically disadvantaged communities in India. Leveraging the 2008 parliamentary delimitation as a natural experiment, the project studies how political representation affects education, entrepreneurship, occupational mobility, and other measures of economic well-being.
The Research Fellow will also have opportunities to contribute to related projects on governance, labor markets, and economic development. Responsibilities include working with large administrative datasets, conducting literature reviews, implementing econometric analyses, and helping produce publication-quality tables, figures, and documentation. This position is ideal for students interested in applied microeconomics, political economy, and causal inference.
Primary Research Mentor: Resuf Ahmed
Co-Research Mentor:
Stanford undergraduate students in good academic standing and enrolled full-time are eligible to apply. Co-term students must have undergraduate student status; if co-terms are in graduate billing status (after 12 quarters) they are ineligible to participate.
All majors are welcome!
Students Responsibilities:
- Implement robustness checks, placebo tests, heterogeneity analyses, and other empirical extensions to strengthen ongoing research projects.
- Clean, merge, validate, and analyze large administrative and survey datasets using Stata, R, or Python, producing publication-quality tables and figures.
- Conduct targeted literature reviews and assist with documenting code and research workflows to ensure reproducible and high-quality research.
Students qualifications:
- Background in economics, political science, statistics, data science, or a related quantitative discipline.
- Strong knowledge of econometrics and causal inference.
- Experience with statistical software such as Stata (preferred), R, or Python.
Time Commitment:
The time commitment is 8-10 hours per week (equivalent to a 3-unit course) each academic quarter. The expectation is that students will work the full academic year with their mentor (Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters). Students planning on studying abroad may not be eligible.
To Apply:
Along with the application, applicants are asked to submit:
- a cover letter
- resume or CV
- unofficial Stanford transcript (first quarter frosh do not need to submit transcripts for autumn quarter applications)
Research Mentor Questions for Applicants:
Please describe any experience you have with causal inference methods (e.g., difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity, instrumental variables, event studies, or panel data analysis).
