Introduction

UNIL is a leading international teaching and research institution, with over 5,000 employees and 17,000 students split between its Dorigny campus, CHUV and Epalinges. As an employer, UNIL encourages excellence, individual recognition and responsibility.

Presentation

The research units Economics of Regulation and Urban Economics of the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration, University of Lausanne, are opening two PhD student positions. These positions are funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation as part of the research project titled “On the socio-economic effects of state capacity: Historical evidence from postal services in Switzerland”, led by Prof. Laure Athias and Prof. Olivier Schöni. A scientific abstract of the project is provided below.

Job information

• Starting date: February 1st, 2025 or at a later date upon agreement
• Duration of the contract: 4 years
• Employment rate: 100%
• Workplace: IDHEAP/remotely

Your responsibilities

State capacity, measured as the ability of a state efficiently provide public services to its citizens, is arguably essential to produce and attract human capital and, hence, to generate economic growth. Since their establishment in the mid-19th century, postal services have likely represented one of the earliest forms of major public infrastructure in Western societies, providing a variety of services promoting the spread of ideas and social capital in addition to the expansion of the financial sector via a reduction in communication costs.
Our project aims to explore the long-term effects of the development of postal services since 1850 on the local socio-economic development of Swiss municipalities. To do so, we structure our research into four sub-projects aiming to empirically quantify the impact of the historical expansion of the presence and quality of postal services on i) population dynamics, ii) the rise of the banking and insurance sector, iii) local real estate development, and iv) individuals’ attitudes toward state capacity and central government’s voting recommendations.
The research approach that we use to investigate the implications of the development of postal services is quantitative and relies on the use of modern econometric techniques to isolate the causal effects of postal services. An important first step in the realization of the project is the data preparation. We plan to create a novel dataset on postal services by digitalizing the information contained in the archives of the Swiss post in paper format. Such information is currently unexploited by academicians.

Your qualifications

• Master’s degree in economics (or equivalent qualification conditional on Bachelor in economics)
• Excellent skills in data analysis, statistical/ econometric methods, and programming
• Fluency in English (written and spoken) is required. Proficiency in French and/or German is an asset
• Innovative, accurate, reliable, and persistent

What the position offers you

• Excellent working conditions in a dynamic and expanding institute part of the University of Lausanne, with good international connections and access to national and international training programs
• An attractive salary by international standards, knowing that the baseline SNF salary may be increased by taking on administrative or research or teaching support activities
• Close supervision of the doctoral thesis by two professors

Contact for further information

Further inquiries can be directed to Prof. Laure Athias laure.athias@unil.ch and Prof. Olivier Schöni olivier.schoni@unil.ch

Your application

Interested candidates are invited to send us their CV, application letter, grade records, copies of certificates, and master thesis/ publications in a single PDF document only via the career website of the University of Lausanne: to Prof. Laure Athias (laure.athias@unil.ch) and Prof. Olivier Schöni (olivier.schoni@unil.ch ) no later than December 1st, 2024.

Only applications through this website will be taken into account. We thank you for your understanding.

Additional information

UNIL is committed to:

• equality, diversity and inclusion within its community;
• ensuring an open and respectful environment that is conducive to personal development;
• offering working conditions that facilitate work-life balance;
• supporting early career researchers.

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