Economics Consulting Intern: Data-Driven Modeling & Insight

Charles River Associates; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 28,000 - 41,000; Full time

Job summary

Charles River Associates offers a Summer Analyst/Associate Internship designed to mirror the analyst experience. Over 8–10 weeks, interns work with senior colleagues on live client projects, gaining professional development and wellness support, with a path to a full-time role after graduation.

You may engage in research, financial analyses, and modeling using Excel, Stata, R, Python, SQL, or SAS, while developing data-handling and presentation skills in a collaborative environment.

Qualifications

• Candidates graduating December 2027 or Summer 2028 with a quantitative focus.
• Honors thesis, research apprenticeship, or research seminar is highly desired.
• Demonstrated understanding of economic, financial and/or accounting concepts and methods.
• Experience with Excel, Stata, Python, R, SQL, SAS, ArcGIS/ArcPy or cloud computing.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Demonstrated initiative and leadership.
• Strong teamwork and time-management capabilities.
• Clear interest in consulting and attendance at CRA events.
• Mandarin fluency may be required for China projects.

Responsibilities

• Conduct economic and industry research to understand a case’s issues.
• Perform financial and economic analyses or build valuation models.
• Program, build models, and perform regression analyses using Excel, Stata, R, Python, SQL or SAS.
• Develop familiarity with data sources that serve as input to analyses.
• Review and summarize analyst reports, client documents and industry press.
• Assist in producing research summaries, expert reports and findings presentations.
• Ensure reliability of analysis through quality control review.

Skills

Curious and analytical thinker

Effective written and oral comms

Eagerness to learn programming

Initiative and leadership

Teamwork and collaboration

Time management

Interest in consulting

Mandarin fluency (China projects)

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, quantitative focus

Honors thesis / research apprenticeship / seminar

Tools

Excel

Stata

Python

R

SQL

SAS

ArcGIS/ArcPy

Cloud computing (Databricks/Spark, Google Cloud, Azure, AWS)

Job description

Charles River Associates offers a Summer Analyst/Associate Internship designed to mirror the analyst experience. Over 8–10 weeks, interns work with senior colleagues on live client projects, gaining professional development and wellness support, with a path to a full-time role after graduation.

You may engage in research, financial analyses, and modeling using Excel, Stata, R, Python, SQL, or SAS, while developing data-handling and presentation skills in a collaborative environment.