Y-RISE Summer Fellowship

A multi-disciplinary research team at Y-RISE led by Professor Mushfiq Mobarak is conducting running experimental and non-experimental evaluations to support policymakers in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sierra Leone to inform evidence-based policy. Y-RISE is seeking a summer intern to conduct data analysis and support Y-RISE’s ongoing research activities.

Potential Projects

1. Migration in Nepal: This project is examining whether programs that provide information and facilitate peer learning can improve labor migration outcomes for informal migrants in Nepal. Tasks may include analyzing primary baseline data, analyzing secondary datasets on labor markets in our study region, analyzing data from small-scale pilots of migration programs, preparing new survey instruments, monitoring primary data collection, and monitoring data from other field activities associated with a randomized controlled trial (RCT).
2. Electrification: Though electricity is central to raising productivity in most industries, drawing billions of dollars in investment annually, evidence suggests that recent mass electrification in low and middle income countries has had only limited socioeconomic impacts. This project examines how improved electricity reliability and relaxing constraints such as limited credit access, poor information, or low market access may affect electricity adoption and boost the impacts of electrification. The candidate will gain experience analysing secondary data, implementing pilot studies, refining research designs, and contributing to grant proposals.
3. Cox Bazaar Panel Survey: The project involves collecting data in the form of a panel survey tracking social, economic, and health outcomes from a representative sample of recently arrived Rohingya, and Bangladeshi households residing in close proximity to the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban in Bangladesh. The Tobin RA will help with the data collection, cleaning and analysis of data collected. They will be responsible to compute descriptive statistics and reports using data collected in the survey.
4. Improving food choice amongst students in school in Jamaica: The study is part of a collaboration between the Jamaican Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoH), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Association (PAHO), and Yale’s Research Initiative of Innovation and Scale (Y-RISE).The project is related to the reduction and prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) through the improvement of nutrition-related behaviors among school students. Aside from the efficiency intervention, this study will pay special attention to the implementation challenges that arise when the program scales and the general-equilibrium effects of the intervention. Primary responsibilities include: literature reviews on the fields of economics, behavioral science, and health; designing survey questionnaires; and assisting in the writing of project reports and policy memos.
5. Climate Change Adaptation in Bangladesh: This study is part of a collaboration between Y-RISE and BRAC, one of the world’s largest NGOs. The project will focus on studying mechanisms for increasing access to drinking water in regions impacted by rising salinity of ground water. It will study a combination of public & private investments and market creation strategies to identify how they interact in increasing water access to vulnerable populations.