Job Opening: Research Associate, Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy

IEA's Basic Purpose -- to develop more effective monetary, fiscal and other analytical and policy tools for macro-managing the economy for stable full-employment growth. We use an innovative conceptual framework that makes macroeconomics a more credible science -- and that is also easier to learn and teach.

Would you like to help make economic history and learn:

• Why mainstream macroeconomic analysis and policy are now in such disarray -- and how they could become more of a credible science.

• Why Social Security is now alleged to be in trouble -- and how it could be made financially sound with no tax increase, no benefit cuts, no increase in federal debt, just simple "unemployment insurance."

• Why the NBER's dating of "business cycle" turning points are so out of sync with most people's actual experience, why their "leading" indicators don't really lead -- and how to fix this.

• Why the Fed chairman has to admit he doesn't know what money is, why he has to resort to an interest rate charade to manage our economic growth -- and how monetary policy could be put on a sound automatic pilot.

• Why the politicians are able to mismanage the federal budget so badly without the voters understanding what's going on well enough to hold them accountable -- and what can be done about this.

IEA will be doing empirical research on these issues this summer. For more details on this research, see Coordinated Macroeconomic Management Tools. Work includes chart-making and literature surveys for current articles on Social Security, monetary policy, fiscal policy and "business cycle" analysis, and for a forthcoming book on our conceptual framework. (Many interesting Ph.D. thesis possibilities.)

Needed skills & experience:

• familiarity with mainstream (Keynesian) macroeconomic theory and policy
• time-series analysis
• information technology comfort:
  • Excel (and other chart-making tools such as Origin)
  • HTML and/or web design
  • Web-site management
• good writing and publication skills.

Participation possibilities: Part-time, full-time, summer internship. Even IEA directorship may be open soon. IEA is located in Cambridge MA, but some telecommuting might be possible.

Compensation: Competitive and negotiable, depending on qualifications and commitment.

If your skills and experience fit, and you would enjoy working creatively in this challenging new framework: