Summer 2022 Fellow: Karsen Wahal, ’25
Office Description
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is an innovative and independent U.S. foreign aid agency that is helping lead the fight against global poverty. MCC advances American values by delivering development assistance that promotes sound policy reforms, creates new opportunities for economic growth, and shares learning that makes the discipline of development effective and results-focused. MCC partners with the world’s poorest countries committed to good governance, economic freedom, and investments in their citizens. MCC embodies smart U.S. government assistance in action as it emphasizes competitive selection of partners, country-led solutions, and country-led implementation. The Division of Economic Analysis, housed in the Department of Policy and Evaluation, contributes to MCC’s foreign assistance delivery throughout its lifetime: from pre-implementation analysis using the growth diagnostics methodology, to cost-benefit analysis of proposed projects, to close-out analysis of project efficacy. Economic Analysis is a preeminent component of the technical service that informs data-driven project planning and evaluation for multi-million dollar U.S. foreign assistance agreements at the MCC.
Potential Projects
At the MCC, we strive to develop projects that make full use of the intern’s experience and knowledge while providing inspiring, valuable exposure to the intern’s areas of interest for growth and development. Specific projects are developed after intern selection with a scope designed to most fully benefit the intern and Agency. Economic Analysis interns at the MCC are integrated to work with collaborators and supervisors on routine and ad hoc research that contribute to the timely, high-quality analysis to steer investments in our global partner countries. This work includes data management and analysis, literature reviews, independent research, and document review. In the past, interns have carried out country-specific current accounts analyses, produced educational project microdata analysis, undertaken systems dynamics analysis of economic-political phenomena, developed technical tools and recommendations for country counterparts and staff, and generated cross-country comparison of economic sector practices and conditions.
Desired Skills
- Familiarity with basic economic concepts and theory
- Proficiency in statistics or applied mathematics
- Demonstrated interest in international affairs/development
- Proficiency with data management; experience with Stata preferred
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to work in teams and independently
- Preferred: Foreign language proficiency (especially French, Portuguese, or Spanish)
