How to Apply
To be considered for this position, applicants should submit the following materials: a cover letter, CV, two examples of scholarly work, and contact information for three references who can supply a letter of recommendation. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is closed or filled. All application materials must be submitted via Interfolio: https://apply.interfolio.com/123782
All general inquiries and questions about the position can be submitted to: inequalitydynamics@umich.edu.
The anticipated start date is September 1, 2023. The initial appointment is for one year, with an anticipated extension for an additional year contingent upon performance.
Summary
The Stone Center for Inequality Dynamics (CID) invites applications for a Postdoctoral Fellowship. CID is a multidisciplinary research center that carries out cutting-edge substantive and methodological research on social and economic inequality and helps expand the scientific data infrastructure available to support the study of this topic. A current core interest of CID is using population-level tax and other administrative data to study racial and ethnic economic disparities. CID is housed at the Institute for Social Research, (ISR), one of the world?s largest social science research organizations. https://www.inequalitydynamics.umich.edu/@
The Postdoctoral Fellow (PF) will be a central contributor to the new project Measuring Racial Inequality in Tax Data, whose Principal Investigator (PI) is Dr. Pablo Mitnik. The PF will mostly contribute to two components of this project. The first component involves using restricted population-level data available at the Census Bureau to thoroughly test the performance, along several dimensions and at various geographic scales, of an increasingly popular methodology for estimating racial and ethnic economic disparities with data lacking self-reported information on race and ethnicity. The second component aims at improving the empirical implementation of the methodology, theoretically developing it in a number of directions, and testing these developments with the same restricted population-level data. Additional work by the PF will be directed at specifying the structure and capabilities of a general-use software package implementing the methodology and overseeing the development of this package by an external contractor.
The project in which the PF will be working has a dual nature. On the one hand, its scientific results will be of broad interest to statisticians, social scientists, and policy analysts concerned with the quantitative study of racial and ethnic inequalities, and it is anticipated that they will be published in leading academic journals. The PF will work closely with the PI in planning and writing these papers. On the other hand, the project aims to very directly support the goals of CID?s Wealth and Mobility Study (WAM)?which uses population-level U.S. tax data to study wealth levels, inequality, segregation, and mobility?by allowing it to produce and make public reliable estimates of racial and ethnic wealth disparities at various geographic scales. The PF will collaborate with the PI and other research team members to establish what the results of the research imply for WAM, both in terms of best methodological practices and in terms of the geographic scales at which different measures of racial and ethnic disparities can be reliably computed.
The PF will be granted time to pursue their own scholarly projects and will have an annual research budget to pay for the costs associated with presenting their research at conferences or other research expenses.
Responsibilities*
Under the guidance of the project’s PI and in close collaboration with the PI and other team members, the PF’s main responsibilities will be the following:
- Systematically reviewing the existing literature relevant to the project
- Using restricted population-level data available at the Census Bureau to thoroughly test the performance of a methodology for estimating racial and ethnic economic disparities with data lacking self-reported information on race and ethnicity
- Improving the empirical implementation of the methodology, theoretically developing it, and testing these developments with population-level data
- Co-authoring papers summarizing the results of the project for publication in academic journals
- Determining the implications of the project’s results for the Wealth and Mobility Study’s capacity to produce and make public reliable estimates of racial and ethnic wealth disparities at various geographic scales
- Overseeing the development by an external contractor of a general-use software package implementing the methodology
Required Qualifications*
- Ph.D. degree in Economics, Sociology, Statistics, or a related field (awarded by the position’s start date).
- Knowledge and experience with advanced computational and statistical methods
- Demonstrated success in designing and completing high-quality academic research projects
- Experience with tools and techniques for strong data management, documentation, and other tools that support replicable research practices
- High proficiency in Stata programming; alternatively, high proficiency in programming in at least one language or statistical package (e.g., R, SAS, Python) and a strong commitment to achieving high proficiency in Stata programming during the first three months in the position
- Demonstrated interpersonal skills with excellent verbal and written English communication skills
- Eligibility to work in a secure U.S. Census Bureau facility (U.S. citizen or three years of residence in the U.S. in the last five years).
Desired Qualifications*
- Experience working with big data
- Expertise in multiple imputation
- Expertise in the Bayesian approach to estimation
- Expertise in racial/ethnic economic disparities
- Familiarity with the statistical package SAS
- Experience working with tax data
- Experience working in the Census Bureau’s remote computer environment
Work Locations
Work location is expected to be onsite in Ann Arbor with flexibility for remote work within our overall Center policies.
Additional Information
The salary range is $63,000-72,000 plus benefits and travel funds.
The Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the diverse people of Michigan, to maintain the excellence of the university, and to ground our research in varied disciplines, perspectives, and ways of knowing and learning.
Background Screening
The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third-party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Institute for Social Research job openings are posted for a minimum of fourteen (14) calendar days. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended. Salary is dependent upon qualifications and experience of the candidate.
U-M EEO/AA Statement
The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.