Overview
Policy Impacts seeks to provide grants to researchers conducting causal analyses of government policy changes and who are seeking to translate those estimates into their implied welfare impact using the MVPF framework. Grantees may receive up to $20K of financial support (up to $10K for graduate student applicants) and will also receive any desired technical assistance and mentorship to help construct the MVPF of their policy of interest. We are able to pay these funds to recipients’ institutions, or pay them directly to recipients as taxable income.
Research from accepted proposals will be presented at the Policy Impacts annual conference in Summer 2025 and included in the Policy Impacts Library. The conference will bring together all grantees to present their empirical analyses and discuss issues arising from translating those estimates into their MVPF. All travel expenses for the conference will be covered by Policy Impacts.
For information on our previous winners of the Early-Career Scholars Grant — see announcement here.
Application Guidelines
The purpose of these grants is to help support researchers with credible empirical designs push to the frontier of empirical welfare estimation using the MVPF framework. To that aim, successful applicants should establish that they have a valid research design and have the ability to measure the causal effect of a policy on welfare-relevant outcomes (e.g. earnings, criminal justice outcomes, health, etc). Applications should also discuss a potential pathway to measuring the MVPF of the policy in question.
Applicants should submit a concise single-spaced proposal describing the proposed work that should be no more than 10 pages total, with no more than 5 pages single spaced description of the analysis, 4 pages of figures/tables, and 1 page description of the budget and how the money will be used. Acceptable funding uses include but are not limited to funding researcher time, research assistant time, and data acquisition.
Eligibility
Early career scholars (untenured) and graduate students are eligible to apply (awards for graduate students are limited to $10K plus travel funding for the 2024 conference). Projects may be collaborations with senior faculty, but funding will be limited to untenured faculty members within the collaboration.
We encourage applications from all untenured researchers. We especially welcome applications from researchers at institutions with more limited research funding opportunities and from groups traditionally under-represented in economics.
Submission Deadlines
Please submit application materials here. Complete applications must be submitted by November 1, 2024. Decisions will be announced by November 30, 2024.
Note on Indirect Costs
For applicants whose organizations will seek recovery of indirect cost from our grants, the maximum rate charged should be 10% of the total direct costs. These rates also apply to any sub-grantees that may be part of the primary applicant organization’s proposal. If the applicant’s organization has a rate that is lower than the maximum amount we allow, then the applicant’s organization should not increase their rate and should use their standard research rate (if lower than 10%).
Applicants who believe that they are unable to comply with this policy should reach out to info@policyimpacts.org to discuss possible alternative arrangements, as we will strive to ensure this policy does not prevent applications.