Vantaggi
High-Profile Professors, Inside View Into the World of RCTs, (False) Feeling that you are doing something good in the world. Recognition for working at "the" place in Development Economics.
Svantaggi
I am pretty sure that the only positive reviews on here about IPA are from the PIs, those that then did graduate work at Harvard or M.I.T. or from Dean Karlan himself. It is also seems like the structure, compensation, and management practices at this organization would be illegal, at least if everything was done in the U.S.. I am quite surprised that they have endured for this many number of years. The mid-level and upper level management is a disaster at best, and the only thing that is worse than them lying to employees (especially local staff which is just appalling) is you realize that in order to cope with their integrity and ethics failings, they are lying to themselves. Some of the organization's practices that I have seen in the field have made me feel that I am a lesser human being, and yet when you bring them up with management you are told that this is the way that things are run in these types of environments which is completely degrading. Also, if you have not read the numerous other posts about salary and work-life balance, here is a thought – you work investment banking hours (80-100 hours a week) for compensation that would pay you about 2 dollars an hour in some cases when you factor everything into the equation, just to get a letter for a Ph.D. program, which is not a given especially if you work for well-known PIs that do not want to dilute their recommendations. I wish I had a time-machine to not have accepted the role and done anything else.