JPAL Job Opportunity

http://www.povertyactionlab.org/search/apachesolr_search?filters=type:job

This is a blog post catered towards seniors and those interested in internships in developing economies. The poverty action lab at MIT (JPAL) has opportunities for research positions over the summer, and longer two-year commitments for recent graduates. They primarily work in impact evaluation, specifically dealing with randomized controlled trials. Their mission is “to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is based on scientific evidence, and research is translated into action”.

While many economists laud JPAL as the poverty solution, I, in no way, believe it to be a panacea. There are numerous ethical dilemmas with the work that JPAL has done in the past. They charge exorbitant amounts of money to carry out their randomized controlled trials, especially for a nonprofit. Furthermore, they often create long-winded surveys (often over 150 pages long that take many hours to complete), and neglect the fatigue of the field staff and the survey participants. Because these experiments are designed mostly by professionals (economists and professors), there is also a disconnect between the field staff and the designers, as well as pressure to publish findings on the professionals. Finally, the importance they place on “rigorous” test conditions often create situations that are not externally valid-field situations are seldom perfect, and creating such stringent requirements can make the results misleading.

Despite these ethical dilemmas, I still chose to place this job/internship opportunity on the GPP 105 blog. Going back to GPP 115, and the Roy’s idea of being a “double agent”, I think it can be extremely beneficial to participate in a program like this. Not only would it help one develop the quantitative skills that are in high demand in development work, but also it would expose one to the current dominant system of thinking within economic development. Understanding why the current perspective is in place is essential to understanding how to change the prevalent assumptions. In addition, I believe the ability to influence such an idealized organization would best come from within.

Working at JPAL would be a good opportunity to reflect on the dominant ideology of development. It would give you field experience, most likely internationally, where you can learn and collaborate with the people in the area (though JPAL is not known for this, it’s the individuals in the field who decide how to operate). It is a learning opportunity with famous development economists and professors fighting poverty, in a manner that you may or may not agree with, but without a doubt can help develop your own perspective and what constitutes successful development work.