Think Tanks: Difficult to Get Hired?

[YoungEconomist]

So I don't know exactly what I want to do once I finish my PhD, but I do have it narrowed down. On one hand, I would probably enjoy working in the private sector as either an economic consultant or a corporate economist. However, if I choose not to do that, then I'd probably love to land a job at a small school (either weakly ranked PhD granting university, liberal arts college, or small private school) and work at a free-market think tank on the side.

 

This brings me to the question. Is it difficult to get hired at think tanks? Keep in mind that I am not talking about somewhere like the Cato Institute, it would be awesome to work there but it is probably incredibly difficult to land a job. Any information or links on the subject would be greatly appreciated. Also, any idea how much time one can contribute if working there as a secondary job? Also, how much additional salary can one earn by doing this?

[Karina 07]

So I don't know exactly what I want to do once I finish my PhD, but I do have it narrowed down. On one hand, I would probably enjoy working in the private sector as either an economic consultant or a corporate economist. However, if I choose not to do that, then I'd probably love to land a job at a small school (either weakly ranked PhD granting university, liberal arts college, or small private school) and work at a free-market think tank on the side.

 

This brings me to the question. Is it difficult to get hired at think tanks? Keep in mind that I am not talking about somewhere like the Cato Institute, it would be awesome to work there but it is probably incredibly difficult to land a job. Any information or links on the subject would be greatly appreciated. Also, any idea how much time one can contribute if working there as a secondary job? Also, how much additional salary can one earn by doing this?

 

I heard the following stats once, from some webpage (hid them away to take out and look at, every once in a while): relative to the average income of a prof at a doctorate-level research university, the average person in a research organization/think tank will earn 20% less, prof at a business school will earn 26% more, and someone working in the WB/IMF will earn 23% more. I don't have any idea where those are from, though, now! So I can't provide more details about what that's based on.

 

I have a different question, too, to tack onto yours: what think tanks are generally respectable, decent places? Because I know that too many of them are very clearly partisan and hence maybe suspect in their "findings". Anyone care to name their favourite think tanks? :)

[TruDog]

From what I know, it's actually not too hard to get hired by a think tank right after a bachelor's degree. They will hire people for a couple of years, knowing that they will gain experience and move on to a graduate program after that. I'm not as sure what would happen right after getting a PhD because that would be a longer-term position.

 

From the right, the main think tanks are the Cato Institute (more libertarian), the American Enterprise Institute, and the Heritage Foundation. From the left, there are think tanks like the Center for American Progress and the Economic Policy Institute. RAND and the Woodrow Wilson Center are also well-respected and claim to be centrist, although they both lean a little left. If you ever get a chance to visit DC, go to some of their events because they almost all have free food. :)

[buckykatt]

Add to the above list the center-left Brookings Institution.

[YoungEconomist]

From the right, the main think tanks are the Cato Institute (more libertarian)

 

Yeah, I wouldn't really consider Cato to lean right. It's simply just a libertarian think tank.

[GymShorts]

Across the street from the Brookings Institution is the Institute for International Economics. I've heard they are two of the more respectable ones.

 

Cato is libertarian to the point of comedy, not that that's a bad thing.

 

As for jobs, I don't know, but I would like to find out. My career plans are similar.

[TruDog]

Also, the numerous state and local think tanks should not be forgotten. A simple Google search will turn up lots of potential opportunities.

 

I had the pleasure of attending a series of Cato seminars designed for DC interns last summer while I was interning at Treasury. The look of bewilderment on most faces as the Cato economists explained their version of economic reality was beyond humorous. I guess that most college students (especially those in political science) either don't understand economics or have never heard a purely free-market perspective before.

[economicus]

the day tomorrow is the libertarian day

[Palimpsest]

For those enviros out there (myself included), Resources for the Future (Washington, DC) does solid environmental and resource economics work.

 

http://www.rff.org

[Karina 07]

Thanks everyone for responses! :) But hm, seems like I maybe inadvertently overly hijacked this thread.

 

Original questions (which I'm interested in, too) were: how hard is it to get work at these places and what do they pay? :) :whistle:

[economicus]

for cato you can boost your profile by attending the summer programme of Mises.org

[betahat]

Pre-PhD they generally pay $25k-$40k, have 9-5 hours, some will pay for you to take a class at a local college, and they generally have good benefits. Many think tanks will require a 2 year commitment. You generally get hired by the researchers/small group of researchers you'll be working for directly and fit is very important. These think tanks have many different types of researchers ranging from first-rate quantitative economists to very qualatative policy work and lots of non-economists. To be most useful for getting into grad school you really want to work for an economist whose opinion and work is respected at the places you'll be applying.

 

Post PhD it's harder to get hired (than pre). Many of them have their own equivalent of the tenure process, although the ability to get grants and contracts is weighed more heavily than in academia. Some, such as Urban Institute, are almost all "soft-money" (ie grants and contracts) and after a few years expect you to be have enough grants and projects to pay your salary and eventually your RA salaries as well. At the ones with more endowment style funding, it's important that your work doesn't upset major donors too much. In general, policy relevance, good verbal/people skills, being able to sell your research to a non-technical audience, etc are all crucial for getting hired at a think tank.

[Jamie25]

for cato you can boost your profile by attending the summer programme of Mises.org

Can you point me to information on this program, because I searched on the site and found no particular "summer program" only a summer research fellowship.

Thanks.

[economicus]

Well, I have this fellowship for summer research in mind (sorry, if there was some confusion). Summer fellowships named in memory of Peg Rowley are available to graduate students, ABDs and post-docs interested in scientific research in the Austrian School and classical liberalism. When you are graduate students you can apply for it and then spend your summer doing research at their institute. Unfortunately, I don't know much about it...just that it's of course respected in libertarian circles...of which cato is a member.

[WellThen]

Pre-PhD they generally pay $25k-$40k, have 9-5 hours, some will pay for you to take a class at a local college, and they generally have good benefits. Many think tanks will require a 2 year commitment. You generally get hired by the researchers/small group of researchers you'll be working for directly and fit is very important. These think tanks have many different types of researchers ranging from first-rate quantitative economists to very qualatative policy work and lots of non-economists. To be most useful for getting into grad school you really want to work for an economist whose opinion and work is respected at the places you'll be applying.

 

Post PhD it's harder to get hired (than pre). Many of them have their own equivalent of the tenure process, although the ability to get grants and contracts is weighed more heavily than in academia. Some, such as Urban Institute, are almost all "soft-money" (ie grants and contracts) and after a few years expect you to be have enough grants and projects to pay your salary and eventually your RA salaries as well. At the ones with more endowment style funding, it's important that your work doesn't upset major donors too much. In general, policy relevance, good verbal/people skills, being able to sell your research to a non-technical audience, etc are all crucial for getting hired at a think tank.

 

Great post. I graduated in June 2006. My current boss works at RAND part time. I wonder how hard it will be to get a job there. I love quant subjects even though my undergrad grades were a rollercoaster.

[hawk30]

Check out the Institute for Humane Studies. They have free market thinks tanks all over the country and also offer fellowships to graduate students.

 

Some other notables are the Independent Institute, the Foundation for Economic Education and PERC, which you can find via google.

 

A good resource is Liberty Guide.

 

I'm not so sure doing anything with the Mises Institute would build cred with the CATO folks...

[Chess is life]

"Check out the Institute for Humane Studies. They have free market thinks tanks all over the country and also offer fellowships to graduate students."

 

IHS is fantastic! Being a former Cato intern/ Koch Fellow I highly recommend working there for a summer. It's very competitive to obtain a position so apply early.

 

You will also be introduced to concepts like government failure and collective action issues that you are rarely if ever exposed to in the class room. If anyone has any questions about CATO, or IHS by all means message me.

[486hunter]

There is a substantial difference between a research shop like RAND or Urban and a partisan think tank like Heritage, AEI, Center for American Progress, Cato, etc.

 

Research shops like RAND or Urban focus on discrete research projects funded either by federal or local govt or by a foundation. The majority of the work consists of program evaluation (what is the average treatment effect of program xyz?) or an attempt to address a specific policy question (what is the impact of youth poverty on subsequent earnings?). The output is a technical report and, later, a journal article if applicable.

 

Partisan think tanks do very little new empirical research. Much of what is done is op-ed writing, disseminating policy briefs, etc. This type of work attempts to frame particular large-scale policy issues (e.g. Should social security be privatized?) based on the think tank's ideological position.

[YoungEconomist]

There is a substantial difference between a research shop like RAND or Urban and a partisan think tank like Heritage, AEI, Center for American Progress, Cato, etc.

 

Research shops like RAND or Urban focus on discrete research projects funded either by federal or local govt or by a foundation. The majority of the work consists of program evaluation (what is the average treatment effect of program xyz?) or an attempt to address a specific policy question (what is the impact of youth poverty on subsequent earnings?). The output is a technical report and, later, a journal article if applicable.

 

Partisan think tanks do very little new empirical research. Much of what is done is op-ed writing, disseminating policy briefs, etc. This type of work attempts to frame particular large-scale policy issues (e.g. Should social security be privatized?) based on the think tank's ideological position.

 

Ok then, how difficult is it to get hired at a respectable think tank? Those places seem almost like an academic job (minus the teaching). Also, is it really true that the non-academic economists at these respectable think tanks have a chance to do consulting on the side for extra money?

 

P.S. It's funny to read something I wrote a while ago (such as this post). Now I'm basically thinking I'll wind up in either econ consulting or academia (but once again it could always change).

[486hunter]

Ok then, how difficult is it to get hired at a respectable think tank? Those places seem almost like an academic job (minus the teaching). Also, is it really true that the non-academic economists at these respectable think tanks have a chance to do consulting on the side for extra money?

 

P.S. It's funny to read something I wrote a while ago (such as this post). Now I'm basically thinking I'll wind up in either econ consulting or academia (but once again it could always change).

 

Yep -- these jobs really are the equivalent of a research professor job at a university. Hiring is fairly competitive. My place has made offers to economists from UCLA, Michigan, Wisconsin and Brown recently. One from MIT. I'd guess that these are not necessarily the superstars but perhaps around the median at a place ranked 15-25? But there's considerable variation. Obviously we look for people who want to do policy-relevant research who would be a good fit with our organization.

 

There are always opportunities to consult but this is perhaps misleading. Given that you are busy working on your funded research you will probably have very little time to do side consulting.

 

One additional issue to consider. Moving up in the research institute world means having the ability to raise money -- research productivity alone may not be enough to take the next step.

[YoungEconomist]

A couple more questions on think tanks:

 

1. Is it flexible like academia? Can you do a lot of work at home? Do you rarely need to physically be at the office?

 

2. Can people make the jump from the private sector into think tank work? For example, if someone received a PhD from a top 30 program and went into consulting for 20 - 30 years, and then decided they'd like to work for a think tank, would it be difficult to find a decent position?

[486hunter]

A couple more questions on think tanks:

 

1. Is it flexible like academia? Can you do a lot of work at home? Do you rarely need to physically be at the office?

 

2. Can people make the jump from the private sector into think tank work? For example, if someone received a PhD from a top 30 program and went into consulting for 20 - 30 years, and then decided they'd like to work for a think tank, would it be difficult to find a decent position?

 

(1) Yes, it's pretty flexible. Plenty of senior staff work from home when necessary (e.g. when their kid is off from school, etc) and mid-level staff do so on occasion. That said, you will have junior research staff reporting to you and if you are not showing up at least 4x a week, it is going to be difficult to mentor them and provide sufficient guidance so they can do their work effectively. Likewise, most research is done via collaboration with other researchers. This necessitates face-to-face meetings from time to time. So I'd say it's flexible but that flexibility is subject to certain constraints.

 

(2) I would say that this depends. There are private sector firms like Abt that do primarily program evaluation and social policy research. It would be possible, I think, to make the jump from Abt to RAND or Urban. This is because although Abt is private you are still involved in research relevant to your field. Senior researchers at think tanks are hired for their track record of research in a particular field so I can't see how someone who did litigation consulting at NERA would be able to make the jump to a think tank, unless a position was open dealing with litigation policy or something.

[YoungEconomist]

 

(2) I would say that this depends. There are private sector firms like Abt that do primarily program evaluation and social policy research. It would be possible, I think, to make the jump from Abt to RAND or Urban. This is because although Abt is private you are still involved in research relevant to your field. Senior researchers at think tanks are hired for their track record of research in a particular field so I can't see how someone who did litigation consulting at NERA would be able to make the jump to a think tank, unless a position was open dealing with litigation policy or something.

 

Is this still likely the case if you are willing to work at places less respectable than Rand (such as Cato)?

[486hunter]

Is this still likely the case if you are willing to work at places less respectable than Rand (such as Cato)?

 

Ideological think thanks like Cato, AEI, Heritage etc are quite different (not necessarily less respectable) from research shops like RAND, Urban and Mathematica. While research shops are very much like a research center at a university, the ideological places do very little original research and much more media-oriented writing/public speaking etc. I imagine at a place like Cato your schedule would be flexible although you would obviously do a fair amount of travel/media appearances which would constrain your flexibility to a degree. I think that, no matter where you are, if you have a research assistant working with you, you will need to show up enough to give them sufficient guidance.

 

In terms of getting hired at a place like Cato, terrific educational credentials are neither necessary nor sufficient. Cato hires people ideologically committed to their cause who have spent their career building up social capital in a particular area of interest. Some of these folks have PhD.s but many have only a B.A. in an unrelated field. What they have in common is a track record of either research or journalism experience in a chosen field. I think it would be exceedingly difficult to get a job at Cato after 20-30 years of private consulting unless you have a long track record of policy-relevant work in a particular area, related to Cato's libertarian mission.

[Econ2006]

I'm trying to understand why you consider AEI to be an ideological think tank. Would you also put Brookings in that category? In my mind, Cato and Heritage are quite different from places like AEI and Brookings. Granted, these latter two are also different from RAND, Mathematica, etc., but I think they occupy their own category.