Research Grants for Early Career Scholars in the United States

They are interested in research that will generate actionable insights. This includes research that illuminates the policies that help or hinder more equitable growth in the United States, as well as research that illuminates the need for a policy response. Research proposals should relate to the broad areas of the economy described below. The research can take a macro perspective and focus on aggregate outcomes, or a micro perspective and focus on outcomes for individuals, families, or businesses. The development of policy proposals will also be considered but should be grounded in empirical research.

They are particularly interested in researchers who, as their career progresses, are willing and able to engage with media and policymakers on their research. Social scientists and research can play a powerful role in shaping policy. Grantees will have the opportunity to participate in trainings and receive assistance in translating research for media and policymakers to help equip Equitable Growth’s network with the necessary skills and opportunities to shape public debates and policy outcomes, including via temporary government service.

Areas of Research

The following are the broad areas of research that are of interest to them.

• Macroeconomic growth
  • How can policy best support the supply side of the economy to generate equitable growth? What government policies are most effective at crowding-in private investment and spurring growth?
  • How can government combine policies that advance equity with policies that advance economic growth in ways that enhance both?
  • How can economic modeling better inform government policy aimed at adapting to climate change? They are especially interested in models that will inform policies at the community or industry levels, those that take extremes and not just averages into account, and those that can more effectively consider the role of capital and labor frictions, as well as the effect of nonprice policies.
• Fiscal policy
  • What are the distributional effects of fiscal policy, and do they differ across different demographic groups?
  • How did the fiscal policy response to the COVID-19 recession affect its severity and scarring effects, and how does it compare to previous recessions?
  • How have changes to the tax code affected economic growth and inequality? They are interested in aggregate outcomes, firm outcomes, and household/individual outcomes.
  • Human capital & well-being.
  • What are the long-term returns to investments in children and families?
  • How do policies designed to promote individual and family well-being affect labor force participation, consumption, or other outcomes?
• Economic mobility
  • What policies, especially at scale, may be effective in making upward mobility more attainable and equitable?
  • What mechanisms explain the strong correlations they see in who achieves upward mobility? While they are interested in both contemporary and historical approaches to these questions, they are particularly interested in research that will clarify indicators to guide policymaking today.
• Labor market
  • How can policy most effectively foster strong matching of workers to firms?
  • How can policy most effectively create high-quality jobs? How can policies ensure a balance of power in the labor market, both across firms and between firms and workers?
  • What are the firm effects of policies intended to improve worker well-being?
  • What are the effects of policies intended to ensure that the introduction of new technologies augment work and lead to high-quality jobs? Where are current policies falling short in the face of rapid technological advancements?
• Market structure
  • How effective are policies intended to promote competition, including but not limited to the state of antitrust enforcement and regulatory approaches? They’re also interested in new foundations for antitrust actions that do not necessarily rely on prices, and comparisons of the U.S. antitrust enforcement regime with other models.
  • How have technological developments affected competition? How does market concentration affect the development or deployment of new technologies?

Funding Information

• Grants to current graduate students and postdoctoral scholars are set at $15,000 over 1 year.
• Grants to early career scholars are set at $30,000 over 1–2 years, depending on the timeline of the research project.

Funding Priorities

• They support research inquiry using many different types of evidence, relying on a variety of methodological approaches and cutting across academic disciplines.
• Preference is given to projects that create new data that can be made publicly available, to studies that engage with relevant literature across disciplines, and to projects where the research question also touches upon the role that racial stratification may play in the inquiry being posed.
• Early career grants are intended to support individuals to advance their research agenda and career, including through engagement beyond academia.

Eligibility Criteria

• Early career grants are open to researchers affiliated with a U.S. university whose Ph.D. was issued within the past 8 years, as well as graduate students currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program at a U.S. university.
• Graduate student applicants should be in the dissertation phase of their graduate program. If you have received tenure, you are not eligible for an early career grant.
• International students at U.S. universities are eligible to apply, though if awarded, the grant would likely need to be administered through the university.
• International students are advised to communicate their intention to apply with their institution to ensure adherence to institutional protocol if funded.
• Applicants do not have to be in a tenure-track position to be eligible.

For more information, visit Washington Center for Equitable Growth.