Postdoctoral Fellowships Awarded for 2022–23 Academic Year

Eleven postdoctoral scholars, including two in new fellowship programs, have been awarded NBER fellowships for the 2022–23 academic year. The two new programs support fellows studying environmental and energy economics and racial and ethnic disparities in economic outcomes. In all cases, fellows are selected by review panels following widely disseminated calls for applications.

Samuel Arenberg, who received his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, and Maggie Shi, who received her PhD from Columbia University, will hold postdoctoral fellowships in aging and health economics that are supported by the National Institute on Aging. Arenberg will study the relationship between place of birth and longevity in the United States. Shi studies how policy decisions shape provider and patient behavior, and the implications for healthcare cost and quality.

Olivia Kim, who received her PhD from MIT, has been selected for a postdoctoral fellowship for study of the aging workforce. This fellowship is sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Kim will investigate how family considerations affect older workers’ decisions about whether to retire, with particular attention to the role of self-employment.

Zhixiu Yu, who received her PhD from the University of Minnesota, has been awarded a postdoctoral fellowship in retirement and disability policy research funded by the Social Security Administration. She will investigate the interplay between social insurance programs and household-level decisions that bear on health outcomes in underrepresented populations.

Cailin Slattery, a University of Virginia PhD who is currently an assistant professor at Columbia University, and Tidiane Ly, who received his PhD from the University of Lyon, have been awarded postdoctoral fellowships for the study of interjurisdictional tax competition. Their fellowships are sponsored by Arnold Ventures. Slattery plans to study trade-offs among the various policy instruments that governments use to regulate business activity. Ly is investigating the welfare effect of tax havens by estimating models of how governments set tax rates in a competitive environment.

Luis Armona, who received his PhD from Stanford University, is the second holder of the NBER postdoctoral fellowship to support diversity in the economics profession. He is studying the market for online higher education as well as the design of student loan programs.

Ranae Jabri, a Duke University PhD, is the inaugural holder of a fellowship supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for the study of racial and ethnic disparities in economic outcomes. Her research focuses on the economic impact of disparities in the criminal justice system.

Michael Ricks, a University of Michigan PhD, has been awarded the first NBER postdoctoral fellowship in environmental and energy economics. This fellowship is also supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Ricks’ research explores the design of tax and subsidy programs in energy markets, with particular reference to alternative energy sources.

Two fellows — Irina Popova, who holds a PhD from Goethe University Frankfurt, and Anson Zhou, a PhD graduate of the University of Wisconsin — will be studying various aspects of long-term fiscal policy. Popova focuses on the fiscal implications of migration flows to developed economies, while Zhou studies the macroeconomic impacts of government policies that subsidize families with children. Their fellowships are sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Calls for fellowship applications are posted each fall at https://www.nber.org/career-resources/calls-fellowship-applications. Application closing dates are usually in early December. Those interested in receiving fellowship announcements can register for them at that webpage.