PhD Position in Applied Economics (1.0 FTE)

The research project will focus on identifying consequences of judges’ verdicts, and on firms’ strategic behavior involving their decision to go to court, which can affect their market and litigation behavior during and after court cases. There are two separate data sources, which have not been matched so far: there is information about the court proceedings, and the judge’s verdict. The other is a database containing financial data of firms involved in court cases.

The candidate is expected to use the latest innovations in Natural Language Processing (NLP) to curate, extract and quantify information and use it to analyze the data.

We are looking for candidates with a Research Master’s degree in economics, with an interest and specialization in Data Science, and particularly, in natural language processing and associated deep learning methods. An ability and enthusiasm for programming, data science, natural language processing, and methodological investigation of the research in practice is a must.

The research project will focus on identifying consequences of judges’ verdicts, and on firms’ strategic behavior involving their decision to go to court, which can affect their market and litigation behavior during and after court cases. There are two separate data sources, which have not been matched so far: there is information about the court proceedings, and the judge’s verdict. The other is a database containing financial data of firms involved in court cases.

The ideal candidate is expected to have:

• a (Research) Master’s degree in a discipline relevant to the PhD project (preferably Economics, or another quantitative discipline);
• good study results and analytical skills;
• programming ability in Python;
• an interest in and motivation for scientific research;
• good command of spoken and written English;
• good knowledge of written Dutch (the primary data involves Dutch-language transcripts of court cases).

Sharing science, shaping tomorrow. A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively towards major strategic themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Sustainability.

The Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance is a faculty at the heart of society, with a strong focus on social issues. Our subjects of Law, Economics and Governance give us a strong mix of academic disciplines that complement and enhance each other. This is a unique combination and a mark of our faculty's strength.

The candidate will become a member of the Applied Economics Section at the Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E.). U.S.E. is part of the Law, Economics, and Governance Faculty of Utrecht University. U.S.E. aims to contribute to an economy where people flourish by taking a broad view on welfare and its causes. We aspire to be an internationally renowned school of economics, with scientifically rigorous and societally relevant research and education. We enrich economics with other disciplines to better solve problems and identify opportunities, from a business and government point of view. Well-being, cooperation, innovation and curiosity are our core values. U.S.E. maintains an excellent international network of academic relationships and is continuously working on extending this network. It teaches its curricula fully in English.