Projects for the Dedicated Research Fellow Track

When you apply to the Research Fellows Program, you can select the dedicated track and indicate your interest in up to three of the following projects.

Projects are organized by their primary field of study, but projects are often multidisciplinary. We encourage you to look at projects within your chosen field as well as in related fields. Project updates will be posted here as they become available. Applications for Summer 2025 are now open.

 

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Accounting

Tax Policies

Faculty: Rebecca Lester, Juan Carlos Suarez Serrato
Status: Open

Rebecca Lester, Associate Professor of Accounting, and Juan Carlos Suarez Serrato, the Edward P. Rust Professor of Economics, are recruiting one research fellow who will work on projects studying the effects of tax policies on businesses, including effects on investment decisions, workers, and financial reporting choices. The research will include work with large administrative datasets and collaboration with a broader team of Stanford GSB RF’s and post-docs as part of the Stanford Initiative for Business, Taxation, and Society. Due to the classification of some administrative datasets, U.S. citizenship may be prioritized during the selection process.

Requirements
A bachelor’s degree or its equivalent, Economics or Accounting major is not required. Knowledge of Stata, SQL, R, or other programming experience required.

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Corporate Reporting and Governance

Faculty: Ron Kasznik, Maureen McNichols
Status: Open

Ron Kasznik, the Paul L. and Phyllis Wattis Professor of Management and Maureen McNichols, the Marriner S. Eccles Professor of Accounting and Public and Private Management, are looking to hire a pre-doctoral research fellow to work on research projects on corporate reporting and governance. The projects include analysis of large data related to corporate financial and nonfinancial reporting, the role of key gatekeepers in supporting and monitoring financial reporting quality, and the role of the regulatory environment. Projects also include investigation of the roles cultural norms play in shaping corporate financial and investment decisions, and how company disclosure choices help manage investors’ perceptions about the firm’s economic performance. The research projects contribute to literatures in accounting, economics and sociology, and apply a variety of methods, including AI, Large Language Models, structural modeling and machine learning. Results from the research are policy relevant and of interest to general media.

Requirements
A bachelor’s degree or its equivalent, a strong quantitative background, excellent computer programming skills, including strong ability in statistical programs (preferably R and Python, with some facility with SAS and Stata), and a serious interest in pursuing research in accounting. Some prior coursework in accounting is helpful but students majoring in economics, finance, and computer science are also welcome to apply. Previous research experience is a plus. A focus on attention to detail and careful data analysis is key.

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Corporate Disclosure and Real Outcomes

Faculty: Jinwhan Kim, Suzie Noh
Status: Open

Jinwhan Kim, Associate Professor of Accounting, and Suzie Noh, Assistant Professor of Accounting, are recruiting a pre-doc research fellow to work on projects that examine the nuanced relationships between corporate disclosures and key domains such as innovation, consumption, and ESG. Professor Kim’s research focuses on the economic consequences of corporate disclosure. His research investigates how traditional and non-traditional forms of corporate disclosure affect capital markets and real outcomes. Professor Noh’s research delves into the interactions between corporate disclosure and consumption dynamics, exploring questions like how financial reporting impacts the consumption of durable and non-durable goods.

Requirements
A bachelor’s degree or higher, a strong quantitative background, excellent computer programming skills (e.g., SAS, Stata, Python, or R), and a serious interest in pursuing a PhD in accounting. A background in finance/accounting/economics is helpful but not necessary.

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Cross-Border Income Shifting

Faculty: Rebecca Lester
Status: Open

Rebecca Lester, Associate Professor of Accounting, is recruiting one research fellow to work on a variety of projects related to the effects of business taxation issues on firm investment, firm employment, and firm reporting. Examples of tax policies examined include: (i) international tax topics, such as cross-border income shifting; (ii) federal tax policies, such as R&D incentives, and (iii) state and local policies, such as targeted business location incentives. The research includes collaboration with a broader team of Stanford GSB RF’s and post-docs as part of the Stanford Initiative for Business, Taxation, and Society. Due to the classification of some administrative datasets, U.S. citizenship may be prioritized during the selection process.

Requirements
A bachelor’s degree or its equivalent, Economics or Accounting major is not required. Knowledge of Stata, SQL, R, or other programming experience required.

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Economic Analysis & Policy

Housing and Urban Economics

Faculty: Rebecca Diamond
Status: Open

Rebecca Diamond, Class of 1988 Professor of Economics,is hiring three research fellows who will work with large, administrative data studying migration, affordable housing policies, earnings dynamics. The topics will be highly empirical with a focus on producing policy-relevant results on how local labor and housing markets shape inequality over a variety of dimensions.

Requirements
A bachelor’s degree or its equivalent. Some knowledge of econometrics/statistics, along with programming experience and economics coursework, would be highly useful. A focus on attention to detail and careful data analysis is key.

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Empirical Market Design

Faculty: Claudia Allende Santa Cruz
Status: Open

Claudia Allende Santa Cruz, Assistant Professor of Economics, is hiring one research fellow. This is a predoctoral fellow will work on ongoing research projects involving the empirical evaluation and design of policies for changing marketplaces. Possible project topics include platform design for school choice, procurement processes for pharmaceuticals, and will likely involve empirical work to develop and analyze new data from large-scale ongoing experiments. The fellow will be expected to contribute to the different aspects of empirical work involved in the project, including data management, munging, visualization, simulation and basic econometrics. Pending interest, there will be ample opportunity to learn and apply more advanced computational techniques as well as economic theory. The fellow can also expect to work in a team setting, in which they will get to collaborate with and learn from faculty members and older students/fellows.

Requirements
Applicants are expected to have a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent, a strong quantitative background, excellent programming skills, and a serious interest in pursuing research in economics are required. A background in economics is helpful but not necessary. Previous research experience is a plus. Intellectual curiosity and a desire to learn how to do things well can compensate for most technical qualifications.

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Tax Policies

Faculty: Rebecca Lester, Juan Carlos Suarez Serrato
Status: Open

Rebecca Lester, Associate Professor of Accounting, and Juan Carlos Suarez Serrato, the Edward P. Rust Professor of Economics, are recruiting one research fellow who will work on projects studying the effects of tax policies on businesses, including effects on investment decisions, workers, and financial reporting choices. The research will include work with large administrative datasets and collaboration with a broader team of Stanford GSB RF’s and post-docs as part of the Stanford Initiative for Business, Taxation, and Society. Due to the classification of some administrative datasets, U.S. citizenship may be prioritized during the selection process.

Requirements
A bachelor’s degree or its equivalent, Economics or Accounting major is not required. Knowledge of Stata, SQL, R, or other programming experience required.

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Combating Misinformation on Social Media

Faculty: Susan Athey
Status: Open

Susan Athey, the Economics of Technology Professor, is recruiting a research fellow to work on projects to develop and evaluate digital media literacy education interventions to reduce the spread of misinformation online. The research involves both survey outcomes and outcomes measured on Facebook, through our collaborators at Meta. To analyze the on-platform outcomes, lab members work with data simulated to match the Facebook data to develop code scripts that are implemented by our Meta collaborators.

Requirements
A bachelor’s degree or its equivalent with substantial experience writing code in R or Python. Econometrics and statistics knowledge would be highly useful. Attention to detail, independent problem solving, and excellent communication are key.

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Tax and Environmental Policies’ Impact on Businesses and Workers

Faculty: Juan Carlos Suarez Serrato
Status: Open

Juan Carlos Suarez Serrato, the Edward P. Rust Professor of Economics, is recruiting three research fellows who will work on a variety of projects including studying how environmental regulations impact plant closures and the operations of multi-unit firms; how tax policies that incentivize capital investment impact workers' careers; and how multinational corporations respond to international tax policy. The research will include work with large administrative datasets and collaboration with a broader team of Stanford GSB RF’s and post-docs as part of the Stanford Initiative for Business, Taxation, and Society. Due to the classification of some administrative datasets, U.S. citizenship may be prioritized during the selection process.

Requirements
A bachelor’s degree or its equivalent, Economics or Accounting major is not required. Knowledge of Stata, SQL, R, or other programming experience is required.

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Finance

Global Capital Allocation Project (GCAP) Lab

Faculty: Antonio Coppola, Matteo Maggiori
Status: Open

Matteo Maggiori, The Moghadam Family Professor and Professor of Finance, and Antonio Coppola, Assistant Professor of Finance, are recruiting three pre-doctoral research fellows to be part of the Global Capital Allocation Project (GCAP) Lab. A substantial component of the work focuses on big-data applications in international macroeconomics and finance. The GCAP Lab mixes data, economic theory, and analytics to understand how capital moves around the world with the aim of improving international economic policy. Current projects include, for example: (i) mapping how global firms finance themselves through foreign subsidiaries, often shell companies in tax havens; (ii) understanding China’s rising presence in global financial markets; and (iii) understanding how capital is allocated in emerging economies.

Results from the research are of policy relevance and of interests to general media (such as The Economist or Wall Street Journal). While the research fellows’ focus is on learning and producing academic research, the fellows also have the opportunity to interface with policy institutions, and to produce publicly available statistics and graphical interfaces that help communicate the research to the broader public.

The research fellows will be dedicated to Professors Maggiori and Coppola but will also work closely and directly with all members of the lab, including other lab co-directors such as Jesse Schreger at Columbia Business School, co-authors on academic papers, PhD students, and other research assistants. This is a vibrant community with plenty of interaction and the expectation of working collaboratively in smaller groups and then present research progress to the broader group.

Results from the research are of policy relevance and of interest to general media, such The Economist or Wall Street Journal, and in addition to pure academic research you will be also involved in producing publicly available statistics and research summaries that help communicate the research to the broader public.

Requirements
A bachelor’s degree or its equivalent, a strong quantitative background, excellent computer programming skills, and a serious interest in pursuing research in economics. A background in economics is helpful but not necessary. Previous research experience is a plus. For one of the two positions, U.S. citizenship may be prioritized during the selection process due to the nature and requirements of some administrative datasets.

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Operations, Information & Technology

Modeling Outcomes of Entrepreneurial Ventures

Faculty: Stefanos Zenios
Status: Open

This is a project under Stefanos Zenios, the Investment Group of Santa Barbara Professor of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Operations, Information & Technology. The Center possesses three unique databases on entrepreneurial activities: 1. A comprehensive database of search funds, a private equity investment vehicle utilized by recent MBA graduates in acquiring small to midsize businesses. 2. A comprehensive database of Stanford alumni and their entrepreneurial activities. 3. A nationwide survey of Latino Entrepreneurs (SLEI). The project will involve: a. Analyzing the Search Fund data to determine whether these investments generate excess risk-adjusted returns relative to the S&P500; b. Analyzing the GSB entrepreneur data to identify factors associated with the success of new ventures and develop predictions for future venture outcomes; c. Taking the lead on analyzing results from the annual SLEI survey of 5k Latino and 5k white U.S. entrepreneurs to identify differences in their experiences. The analysis will involve a) using the Public Market Equivalent metric of financial performance that is commonly used to assess private equity performance and adapt it to the idiosyncratic nature of venture investment, and b) a novel ML model for competing risk analysis.

Requirements
Bachelor degrees in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Industrial Engineering, Applied Math or related fields. Python, R programming

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Organizational Behavior

How Can Organizations Grow Successfully?

Faculty: Julien Clement
Status: Open

Julien Clement, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior, is recruiting a research fellow to work on projects investigating how groups and organizations manage to remain successful as they grow in size. Groups and organizations experience a variety of “growing pains” as they become bigger because coordination becomes more difficult as the number of people working together increases. At a basic level, we understand relatively well why coordination breaks down in growing organizations. But there is still a lot we don’t know about why some organizations do better than others at retaining their ability to coordinate effectively as they grow. To help make progress in this domain, Julien and his team developed an online experimental platform which allows researchers to test ideas about coordination in growing groups. Working in a team with faculty and a GSB PhD student, the DRF hired for this position will help develop the experimental platform further, run experiments on the platform, and analyze the resulting data. They may also get opportunities to participate in projects in other contexts (e.g., ""real"" companies or start-ups) that help evaluate the external validity of what is learned through the experimental platform.

Requirements
A bachelor’s degree or its equivalent with significant experience writing code. Experience with Python for scientific computing will be very useful; some experience with web development (e.g., JavaScript programming) will be useful but isn’t required before starting the position. Attention to detail, independent problem solving, and excellent communication are key.

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Political Economy

Understanding American Democracy

Faculty: Andrew Hall
Status: Open

Andrew Hall, the Davies Family Professor of Political Economy, is recruiting a research fellow who will work on projects concerning American elections, polarization, money in politics, and democracy. The research will involve collecting, cleaning, and analyzing a wide range of large-scale quantitative datasets, including administrative data on voter turnout and campaign contributions, proprietary data on online behavior and media, and public records of legislator activity. The fellow will work closely with Hall and his research group, which includes a variety of PhD students, RAs, other pre-docs, and post-docs.

Requirements
A bachelor’s degree or equivalent with strong experience in technical subjects such as math, computer science, statistics, and economics. Previous coursework in political science is not needed and not prioritized. Experience with R, Stata, and/or Python a plus. Ability to write code (with or without the help of AI) in at least one language is a must. Most importantly, careful attention to detail, personal accountability, and a collaborative, ego-free attitude are essential.

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Technology, Democracy, and Decentralized Governance

Faculty: Andrew Hall
Status: Open

Andrew Hall, the Davies Family Professor of Political Economy, is recruiting a research fellow who will work on projects related to technology, democracy, and decentralized governance. Example research questions include: what is the political slant of different LLMs, and why? How can we design online voting systems to govern social media platforms? The research will involve writing code to pull data from a variety of online systems such as LLM APIs, social media platforms, and the Ethereum blockchain. The fellow will work closely with Hall and his research group, which includes a variety of PhD students, RAs, other pre-docs, and post-docs.

Requirements
A bachelor’s degree or equivalent with strong experience in technical subjects such as math, computer science, statistics, and economics. Previous coursework in political science is not needed and not prioritized. Substantial experience writing code is a must. Previous experience working with LLMs or blockchains is a plus. Most importantly, careful attention to detail, personal accountability, and a collaborative, ego-free attitude are essential.

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Didn’t Find What You Were Looking For?

We are not currently offering dedicated positions in the Marketing field. Projects will be added as they become available. 

If you did not find a project within your field or another project of interest to you, you can explore the Standard Track, which follows a rotational model that allows you to gain experience across multiple fields and eventually specialize in one field of interest.

A group sitting around a meeting table in discussion

Standard Track

Rotate between projects with different faculty each quarter based on project availability and your interest.