PhD student in Economics - Befattningen är under tillsättning eller redan tillsatt, och det är inte längre möjligt att lämna in en ansökan

The Department of Economics is looking for a PhD student. You will to a large extent work within the project "Competition for Garbage – an analysis of the waste incineration market". Your application should be sent to us no later than September 10, 2019.

Project description
The market for incineration of waste features several characteristics which, in a socio-economic perspective, give rise to suspicions of inefficient use of resources. The demand for waste incineration comes to a large extent from municipalities via public procurement and the supply is characterized by economies of scale. Long distances between plants create significant transport and logistics costs, possibly enabling facilities to exert local/regional market power.

In the project, we will analyze the waste incineration market to determine if it works effectively. A major focus is on analyzing geographic distances and spatial pricing, municipal procurement behavior and the effect of a waste-incineration tax. We will also apply cost benefit analysis to study the balance between comparative advantages and environmental aspects to ultimately find out if it is economically justified to reduce imports of waste for incineration in Sweden. The project is essentially empirical and has high policy relevance. The data needed for the econometric analyses will be collected from public procurement contracts and other sources.

Life as a PhD student
As a PhD student, you will be part of the PhD education program at the Department of Economics. While the focus of your research work is determined by the above-described project, you are expected to follow the general study plan for the PhD program. Among other things, you will take courses specified by the study plan. You are also expected to work both independently and in cooperation with the other members of the research group. During the first year, one of your research priorities you will be to collect the primary data for the project.

As a PhD student you will attend the research seminars organized by the department and otherwise contribute to the research environment and activities at the Department of Economics, the Centre for Environmental and Resource Economics (CERE) and the USBE. Overall, your duties as a PhD student regarding course credits, dissertation work, seminar participation, etc. is regulated in the General study plan (see link under "Other Information").

Eligibility and selection for postgraduate education

1. Basic requirement: At least 240 ECTS credits, of which at least 60 concern advanced level courses, or otherwise acquired equivalent knowledge.
2. Specific requirement for admission to postgraduate education in economics: At least 90 ECTS credits in Economics.
3. Language requirements: (a) Applicants must be proficient in both oral and written English. (b) As the data has to be collected from Swedish municipalities through personal communication, the applicants must be able to speak and write in proper Swedish.  
4. Advantage: Good knowledge and interest in the questions studied in the above-described project.
5. Applicants with a degree from a non-Swedish university are encouraged to provide their results from the GMAT (and/or GRE) and TOEFL tests if available.

Application
A complete application should include:

• A personal letter including research interest and a motivation to why you want to complete a postgraduate education in Economics. (Max 2 pages)
• Curriculum vitae.
• A brief description of your research interest and a research idea that fits in to a PhD-thesis related to the depictured research area (the idea should be in addition to what is mentioned in the project description above). (Max 2 pages)
• Copies of grades, diplomas, and of advanced level essays/theses.
• Contact information to two references. 

You apply through the Umeå University recruitment System no later than September 10, 2019.

Other information
As a PhD student you will be part of the postgraduate education at the unit of Economics that under normal circumstances means four years of full-time studies (including research). The duties as a PhD student regarding course credits, dissertation work, seminar participation, etc. is regulated in the General study plan. In the case of departmental duties (e.g. teaching), the PhD position will be extended with an equal amount of time. Working hours are spent in Umeå. More information about postgraduate education in economics, including the General study plan can be found here.

More about USBE
The vision of Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics (USBE) is to be a University-based Business School firmly rooted in the region, nationally influential and internationally respected. We create knowledge in interaction with stakeholders, to develop responsible leaders with a sustainability orientation for a local and global society. 

The Department of Business Administration, the Department of Economics, the Department of Statistics and The USBE office form USBE, with about 150 employees. About 3000 students study in our programs every year and we offer education from the undergraduate to the doctoral program level in all of our main disciplines – Business Administration, Economics and Statistics.

The Department of Economics has about 40 members of staff. We pursue research mainly in Labor economics, Public economics, Environmental and Resource economics and Econometrics.

USBE is an AACSB and ISO 14001 accredited business school. Read more about USBE here: https://www.umu.se/en/usbe

About CERE
CERE is a collaboration between researchers at Umeå University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Umeå. CERE contributes to a strong research environment in the field of environmental and natural resource economics. For more information please visit http://www.cere.se.

We welcome your application!