Research Economist, Economic Research

Anthropic•San Francisco, CA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

As an Economist at Anthropic, you will work to measure and understand AI's effects on the global economy. You will make fundamental contributions to the development of the Anthropic Economic Index, establishing new methodologies to measure the usage, diffusion, and impact of AI throughout the economy using privacy-preserving tools and novel data sources. You will use frontier methods in econometrics, machine learning, and structural estimation. Such rigour will drive impact, shaping both policy discussions externally and informing Anthropic’s internal business and product decisions. Our team combines rigorous empirical methods with novel measurement approaches. We're building first-of-its-kind datasets tracking AI's impact on labor markets, productivity, and economic transformation. Using our privacy-preserving measurement system (Clio), we analyze millions of real-world AI interactions to understand how AI augments and automates work across different occupations and tasks.

Requirements

PhD in Economics
Strong track record of empirical research, particularly studies combining novel data sources and economic theory or those implementing frontier methods in causal inference and machine learning
Experience relevant to the study of AI’s impact on the economy, including: Labor market analysis and occupational change Task-based approaches to technological transformation Large-scale data analysis and econometric methods Large language models for social science research Policy-relevant economic research Experimental and quasi-experimental methods for causal inference Macroeconomic modeling and time series forecasting Agent-based modeling or large-scale simulation
Technical skills including: Proficiency in Python, R, SQL, or similar tools for large-scale data analysis Experience working with novel datasets and measurement systems Comfort learning new technical tools and frameworks
Demonstrated ability to: Lead complex research projects from conception to publication Communicate technical findings to diverse audiences Build relationships across academic, policy, and industry communities
Strong interest in ensuring AI development benefits humanity
Comfort working with AI systems and ability to think critically about their capabilities and limitations

Responsibilities

Make fundamental contributions to the development and expansion of the Anthropic Economic Index, including quarterly reports and industry-specific deep dives
Design and conduct empirical research on AI's economic effects, drawing on external data sources and the privacy-preserving measurement systems internally
Develop new methodological approaches for studying AI's impact on: Labor markets and the future of work Productivity and task transformation Economic inequality and displacement Industry-specific disruption and adaptation Aggregate economic trajectories (GDP, productivity, unemployment) under varying AI-adoption scenarios
Develop causal-inference tooling — e.g. surrogate indexes, heterogeneous-effect pipelines — to help Anthropic evaluate the downstream economic consequences of its own compute, product, and pricing decisions
Build and maintain relationships with academic institutions, policy think tanks, and other research partners
Work cross-functionally with other technical teams to improve our measurement infrastructure and data collection
Translate research insights into actionable recommendations for both product decisions and policy discussions
Amplify external engagement through research publications, policy briefs, and presentations to diverse stakeholders