PhD Student Workshop on Microeconomic Policies & Economic Growth
While the high-level goal of encouraging economic growth is a key macroeconomic objective of many policymakers, many of the policy levers linked to growth—such as facilitating housing construction or expanding energy infrastructure—involve microeconomic policies. Research often falls short in generating the type of evidence of interest to policymakers. Microeconomic researchers who study these policies often focus on economic efficiency or the distributional consequences of potential reforms, rather than estimating the extent to which these policies affect economic growth.
To fill this gap, the Smith Richardson Foundation is supporting a project which includes a series of nine studies of the economic growth consequences of changes in microeconomic policies such as incentives for R&D investment and expedited permitting for energy and transportation infrastructure. That project is co-led by Pete Klenow (Stanford University), Ken Kuttner (Williams College), and Heidi Williams (Dartmouth College), and is engaging with economists at several non-partisan federal agencies—such as the Federal Reserve, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Joint Committee on Taxation.
To complement the activities supported by that Smith Richardson Foundation grant, Coefficient Giving is supporting a one-day dissertation writer workshop on March 31, 2027 in Washington DC, adjacent to the research conference at which the papers commissioned for the Smith Richardson Foundation supported project will be presented: https://www.nber.org/conferences/microeconomic-policies-and-economic-growth-spring-2027. The dissertation-writer workshop will provide an opportunity for students to hear presentations from some of the authors and discussants involved in the Smith Richardson Foundation-supported workshop, to receive feedback from peers as well as established researchers on their research project, to meet a number of established researchers in the field, and to obtain career advice.
The dissertation-writer workshop will include about 30 participants who are currently enrolled in PhD programs and who have a complete draft of at least one research paper on the economic growth consequences of changes in one of these nine microeconomic policies:
1. Housing regulation
2. Permitting of infrastructure construction
3. Policies related to labor market regulation
4. Regulation of electricity transmission
5. Safety net programs
6. Policies related to artificial intelligence
7. Government support of R&D
8. Tax policy related to business investment
9. Immigration of high-skilled workers
Applicants must be at the dissertation-writing stage of their PhD program in economics or a closely related field. Preference will be given for students whose research agenda focuses on one of the nine topics above. The NBER will reimburse airfare, ground transportation, and one night of lodging for participating students. Two nights will be covered for those traveling from the West Coast.
Applicants should assemble the following materials in a single PDF file for submission, in this order:
1) A cover letter indicating their name, complete contact information, university, description of their current and future research interests, expected completion date of their PhD program, and the name of at least one faculty adviser who could serve as a reference.
2) A curriculum vitae.
3) A research paper that is work-in-progress and for which feedback is sought. That is, the paper should not be published; it should be at the stage at which comments and feedback would be helpful.
This application packet should be uploaded by 11:59pm ET on December 16, 2026.
Submit Application
Applications that are not received by the deadline will not be considered. Applicants should use their name when completing the “Title of Application” field. Please indicate in the “Optional Comments or Information” field on the second page where you heard about this program. Acceptance decisions will be announced in late January.
Questions about program logistics may be addressed to Rob Shannon (rshannon@nber.org) in the conference department.