Summer Internship Program

The Growth Lab’s engagement in Azerbaijan is advancing research and evidence-based policy development to achieve outcomes on economic diversification and job creation. After a fifteen-year period of remarkable economic growth driven by the discovery of oil, Azerbaijan is in the midst of a low growth period marked by high volatility in household consumption. The historical driver of economic dynamism — oil revenues that fuel net government spending — has proven unable to sustain growth over the recent period and is a finite resource unable to drive growth in the long-run. The economy currently lacks alternate sources of growth to pick up the slack.

If past growth has been driven by oil, and oil cannot continue to do so in the long run, how can the government manage the transition out of oil to create new growth drivers? The project is a three-year engagement. The Growth Lab team has recently concluded the diagnostics phase of the project and is currently in the policy formulation stage.

Internship Opportunities:
The project is seeking roughly three interns this summer to expand upon several areas of research. This follows six summer internships in 2024 and five ongoing student assignments. Summer interns in 2025 are expected to conduct research and policy analysis on central workstreams for the project around: macroeconomic policy, green growth and industrial policy, and subnational diagnostics. The selected candidates can expect to collaborate closely with the Ministry of Economy and organizations in Azerbaijan, as well as the Growth Lab team throughout the summer. Depending on the most pressing needs as well as the intern’s profile, possible areas of focus for the internship(s) include:

• Green Industrial Parks: collaborate with the team on policies and a strategy for Azerbaijan to utilize its renewable energy sources in creating green industrial parks to attract FDI and produce products in a more green way.
• Macroeconomic modelling: Managing oil transfers in the context of declining reserves allows for several potential studies on fiscal management; optimal levels of non-oil revenues and revenue sources; monetary policy and exchange rate regime, etc.
• Subnational analysis: Opportunities within Azerbaijan are not uniform, where this analysis will aim to study the different potential of the regions within Azerbaijan for diversification and growth.
  • Prepare diagnostic studies of Azerbaijan’s primary economic regions to evaluate regional constraints and growth potential.

These internships will take place in Azerbaijan.

The Growth Lab is planning to launch a new multi-year project focused on growth with the City of Baltimore. For the past several decades, the City of Baltimore has been losing population while the larger region, including surrounding Baltimore County, has experienced growth. Baltimore has faced loss of manufacturing activity over the last half century and especially intensive problems of crime and deep-seated inequities between races and places within the city. Baltimore as a city and as a metropolitan region has substantial assets and opportunities that are underdeveloped, while many areas of the city face widespread vacancies as individuals and families leave the city in search of better quality of life. Very recently — since 2022 — efforts by the city have resulted in a significant decline in gun violence and the city is working on various other priorities including vacancies, education, and downtown redevelopment. This project aims to work with city leaders and regional stakeholders to build on progress and mobilize a shared strategy for inclusive growth.

Internship Opportunities:
The Growth Lab anticipates hosting 2-3 interns to contribute to early stages of this project, including through local data and systems analyses to develop a shared diagnostic, business and other stakeholder interviews, and hands-on policy-related work with local teams.

All internships will take place in Baltimore.

The Growth Lab recently started a new engagement on Bolivia’s economy. Bolivia is currently facing major challenges which, if unaddressed, could undermine the economic potential of the country. Beyond steering clear of a short-term economic collapse, it is also crucial to design and implement a mid-term economic strategy that will put the country on a path towards inclusive economic prosperity. In its first phase, the project aims to provide an original and evidence-based understanding of Bolivia’s economic situation, and to outline a short- and mid-term economic strategy for the country. This effort will build on the Growth Lab’s growth diagnostics methods and global experience but will also involve deep collaboration with a wide range of Bolivian and international experts.

Internship Opportunities:

The exact focus of summer internships will be based on the analytical progress achieved in the first half of 2025. However, the following topics are likely to constitute interesting areas of investigation for the summer interns that will be selected:

• Bolivia’s fiscal situation and public debt management.
• External accounts, monetary policy and exchange rate framework.
• Natural gas, lithium and other extractive industries.
• Agriculture and the development of high-value agricultural activities.
• Logistics, local economic development and inclusiveness of economic development.
• Other key areas as uncovered by growth diagnostics work.

Internships will likely be based in La Paz, Bolivia.

The Growth Lab’s engagement in the Indian state of Meghalaya seeks to identify growth and job creation opportunities for the youth through evidence-based research and policy development. Nested in India’s North-Eastern region, Meghalaya is one of the most isolated places in the world, a result driven by its geographical features (landlocked, rugged topography and extreme rainfall) and compounded by the uneasy political relationships it has with its neighbors, its unique tribal institutions, and its poor connectivity infrastructure. Not surprisingly, it is one of the poorest states in India and one of the slowest growing over the past two decades.

Internship Opportunities:
The project is seeking 3-4 interns this summer to expand upon several areas of research.

The selected candidates will work with the Government Innovation Lab (GIL), an elite policy-oriented unit staffed by a growing cadre of young professionals and led by the state’s Principal Secretary & Development Commissioner, a 2014 MC/MPA graduate. The GIL hosted 8 and 3 summer interns in 2022 and 2023, respectively, and had two MPIAD graduates as full-time consultants between 2022 and 2024.

The internships will take place in the capital city of Shillong and are likely to involve some amount of travel within the state. Depending on the most pressing needs of the unit as well as the intern’s profile, possible areas of focus for these internships include participating in the design and/or implementation of economic, health, education, and other human development initiatives, as well as in pilot programs carried out by the GIL.

The Growth Lab is entering a new phase of a wide-ranging applied economic research project, in partnership with Morocco’s OCP Group and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P). The initial 18-month project focused on two main tracks: (1) diagnosing Morocco’s constraints to stronger economic growth and job creation, and (2) understanding complexities of OCP’s proposed green ammonia investment. Four HKS summer interns who were based at UM6P in Rabat contributed to the diagnostic research while current student RAs are working on topics ranging from understanding Morocco’s challenges and opportunities in the electric vehicle value chain, diagnosing Morocco’s underperforming healthcare industry, to better understanding Morocco’s various vulnerabilities to climate change.

This internship period will mark the start of a multi-year expansion upon this work. The intended focus is in applying newly developed research tools on innovation in a variety of other strategic areas for Morocco and its exporters (for example, agriculture, energy, biotech, healthcare, water, logistics & shipping, data storage and processing) as well as research and policy support in issues of urban development and developing innovation ecosystems in cities. Possible internship topics could include:

• Quantitative analyses on innovation, based on patenting, scientific publications and other big data sources.
• Innovation policies in Morocco, Africa and globally.
• Sectoral studies (e.g. agriculture, electricity).
• Urban economics and local development policies.

The internship opportunities would take place largely or completely in Morocco.

The Growth Lab is collaborating with New Mexico’s Economic Development Department through a one-year fellowship position. This collaboration is working to deepen and strengthen New Mexico’s statewide Economic Diversification and Resilience Strategy, with a focus on both shared statewide challenges and distinct local issues across the state’s cities, towns, and tribal nations. The State of New Mexico faces fiscal vulnerabilities stemming from the global energy transition while many local economies may face significant shocks and pressures to their economic drivers and job markets as well as to their fiscal resources. The energy transition is layered on top of longstanding realities of high poverty and inequality in the state. The work in New Mexico involves problem solving with public, private, and civil society leaders in both cities and rural areas.

Internship Opportunities:
Over the summer, the Growth Lab is seeking 3-4 interns to deepen the work of this fellowship through focused research and engagement on key issue areas or dedicated to specific regions with heavily extractive economies. For example, some internships may be focused on statewide topics like site readiness planning for investment across many areas of the state. Others may be focused on overall local economic development strategy improvements with individual counties, towns, tribes, or pueblos, and be based in those places.

All internships will take place in New Mexico.

The Growth Lab is planning to launch a new multi-year research project on the Nigerian economy in collaboration with the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG). The Growth Lab team will work alongside Nigerian researchers, government officials, and other stakeholders to strengthen research and policymaking capacity to overcome Nigeria’s short-term and long-term economic challenges. Nigeria faces significant macroeconomic challenges at present, including high inflation, and longstanding struggles to diversify economic growth drivers beyond oil and gas. Its immense human potential remains underutilized. Rather than seeing global businesses enter Nigeria, the last several years have been marked to be an exit of Nigerian businesses that have been successful in foreign markets. Nigeria is a large and diverse country with varying local challenges and opportunities. The Growth Lab project will aim to work on shared national challenges and local strategies in various parts of the country.

The following are initial guiding research questions for the new engagement:

1. What constraints are binding better economic performance across Nigeria and what underlying political economy and governance issues may prevent these constraints from being addressed?
2. What combination of macroeconomic policy changes and under what sequencing would address pressing macro-fiscal impediments while improving the long-term resilience and growth pillars of the economy of Nigeria?
3. How can Nigeria implement a regional approach to identify and sustain local engines of economic growth, and what are the key factors and strategies that would contribute to the success of such an approach? What are the differential binding constraints affecting different regions of the country?

Internship Opportunities:

The project team is seeking a team of interns (4 or more positions) to work in embedded positions within Nigerian government ministries and/or with other local counterparts. Specific topics will take shape over the period of January through May 2025 and are likely to include a focus on macroeconomic analysis and modeling; economic complexity analysis; and targeted research into sectors, issues, and regions.

These internships would be conducted in Nigeria.