Job Opportunity for Research Associate – Direct Benefit Transfers for Electricity at Poverty Action Lab in Tamil Nadu

Organization: J-PAL South Asia
Country: India
Education: Bachelor’s
Start Date (Earliest): 1 March 2022
Language Requirement: Tamil
Length of Commitment: One year

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) seeks qualified applicants for positions as Research Associates for projects on agriculture, education, environment, finance, health, labor, and governance in locations around the world. The projects study a variety of topics within the previously listed fields. The positions offer an opportunity to gain first-hand field management experience in an organization undertaking cutting-edge development research. These positions are located primarily in developing countries around the world and the principal investigators are J-PAL affiliated professors.

Project Description:

Electricity subsidies for agriculture have been meant as a lifeline to farmers, allowing the widespread use of irrigation with electric pumps to extract groundwater. Instead, they have locked rural India into a destructive cycle of groundwater depletion and bad power supply. Farmers, given electricity for free, use too much, draining groundwater and worsening poverty (Sekhri, 2014). Meanwhile, because supplying below cost loses money, electricity distribution companies have to ration rural customers to stay afloat. These discoms (distribution companies) have a collective USD 100 billion of debt, and in many states supply rural areas only eight hours per day.

The question of this study is: can a change in the delivery mechanism of agricultural subsidy to the farmers make both farmers and discoms better off? This study will design, implement and evaluate a subsidy delivery innovation that aims to make farmers better off while reducing discom losses and the subsidy burden on the state government. The scheme design offers farmers a lump-sum subsidy (a fixed amount per month) in their bank account according to the electricity entitlement given to them. Because farmers would receive a lump-sum subsidy, they would be better off, since they could always use the money to buy the same power they got before. The evaluation would then ask: what is the take-up of this alternate subsidy delivery mechanism? How much does the higher marginal price induce conservation of electricity and groundwater? How does its take-up affect the distribution company’s costs and losses and the farmer’s productivity?

Research Associate Roles and Responsibilities:

The RA will work closely with academic researchers and other field staff to perform a variety tasks including, but not limited to:

• Overseeing implementation of the evaluation in accordance to the research design, in association with our partner organization.
• Designing survey questionnaires, conducting qualitative research, conducting quantitative analysis of real time incoming consumer billing data and refining surveying instruments.
• Managing field teams: Recruit, train, and supervise both field-based and data operations teams consisting of project assistants, field managers, field-based surveyors, data entry operators and other field and office staff.
• Maintaining relationships with partner organizations at both headquarters and field levels
• Supervising data collection and data-entry, and ensuring data quality and productivity.
• Assisting with data cleaning, preliminary data analysis, and preparation of documents and presentations for dissemination.
• Reporting to PIs on all of the above mentioned activities.

Desired Qualifications and Experience:

Required:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Economics (or related field) or Engineering
• At least 1 year of work experience is desired but not necessary
• Prior experience with field data collection is desired but not necessary
• Familiarity with impact evaluations and randomized controlled trials is required
• Excellent management and organizational skills along with strong quantitative skills
• Fluency in Tamil and English and strong communication skills are required.
• Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player
• Willingness to live in Tamil Nadu and travel extensively to study areas
• Basic knowledge of STATA or other data analysis tool

Desired:

• Master’s degree in economics, engineering or related disciplines is preferred
• Experience living in a developing country and/or liaising with government officials is a strongly desired but not necessary
• Proficiency in STATA (or other tools such as R, SPSS etc.) is desired
• Demonstrated ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations

How to Apply

Complete the J-PAL/IPA common application. After completing a brief registration, choose the Research job category, then select Research Associate Position – Direct Benefit Transfers for Electricity, Tamil Nadu and include resume, cover letter, transcripts, and two recommendation letters. Note that applications with incomplete submissions will not be considered.

You are able to submit your application before your references complete their recommendation letters; however, you must include their contact information before submitting your application. Given the volume of applications received, only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview.