NERA Economic Consulting internships

Evidence snapshot: 2026-09-04. This is a dated research summary, not a live vacancy feed.

Program: Summer internships described in the official careers FAQ. [N3]

Apply: Use the exact local role; the general FAQ does not publish a universal duration or deadline. [N3]

Pay: No role-specific amount established.

Locations: Office/practice-specific; group directors set hybrid schedules. [N3]

Routes: Competition; finance/disputes; digital platforms; survey/consumer analysis; labor; healthcare. [N1][N4][N5][N7][N8]

Distinctives: The internship centers on evidence for economic disputes and regulation, not a general management rotation; hybrid schedules are group-specific. [N1][N3]

Prepare: Explain an empirical project and an economic case, including data quality and alternative explanations. [N3]

Antitrust is one of NERA’s core practices. The firm applies industrial organization, econometrics and market evidence to mergers, monopolization, pricing, intellectual property, consumer protection and other competition matters. Its technology and digital-platform materials also show how antitrust work now intersects with AI, privacy, fintech, streaming, gaming and online platforms. [N4]

Intern work can include market research, data cleaning, regression analysis, document review, merger analysis and damages support. The key question is what the data say about competition and consumer behavior.

Students should prepare microeconomics, industrial organization, statistics and careful causal reasoning. A strong application project might examine substitution or pricing in a market using public data and clearly state the limitations of the analysis.

NERA’s traditional capabilities include securities and finance, valuation, financial-institution regulation, commercial litigation and damages. [N5] Analysts can work with securities prices, disclosures, trading data, financial statements, complex instruments or business valuation.

Finance students should show more than Excel mechanics. The stronger evidence is a defensible model: which benchmark was chosen, why, what data were used, how sensitivity was tested and what would invalidate the conclusion.

This work can be attractive to students considering finance, litigation consulting, graduate economics or policy. It is less like investment banking because the analyst is not advising an issuer on raising capital or executing a deal; the focus is often evidence in disputes or regulation.

NERA’s Labor and Employment practice works on wage-and-hour litigation, worker classification, joint-employer questions, meal and rest periods, minimum wage, overtime and other employment matters. [N7]

Analysts can work with employee records, time data, payroll, surveys and statistical samples. The technical question is often whether an observed pattern is systematic and economically or legally meaningful.

A candidate should understand distributions, regression, sampling and careful interpretation. They should be comfortable explaining why a raw difference does not automatically establish causation.

NERA has a long history in energy, utilities, regulatory economics, auctions and market design. The firm works with utilities, regulators, governments and market participants on pricing, procurement, risk, regulation and competition. [N5]

Energy interns can encounter electricity markets, renewable procurement, rate design, resource adequacy, finance or regulatory policy. Economics, engineering, energy, math and finance students can all fit depending on the group.

Strong preparation includes one quantitative energy project with explicit assumptions about demand, supply, costs or regulation. The candidate should be able to distinguish a market outcome from a policy assumption.

NERA’s healthcare practice addresses mergers, provider competition, contracting, reimbursement, policy, quality and class actions. Current materials reference major health-system, insurer and provider merger matters and work before the DOJ, FTC and state agencies. [N8]

The work combines economics with healthcare institutions. A candidate might study provider markets, patient flows, reimbursement, network contracting, competition or policy effects.

Public health, economics, health policy, statistics and finance students can all be relevant. The important skill is translating healthcare facts into an economic question without overstating clinical expertise.

NERA’s Digital Platforms and Technology capability works on antitrust, intellectual property, consumer protection, privacy, securities and finance, environmental and energy issues and AI. The firm cites experience across telecommunications, fintech, streaming, health technology, transportation, retail and gaming. [N4]

A technical candidate can add value through data analysis, software and platform understanding, while economics candidates can analyze incentives, competition and consumer behavior. The work is not a software-engineering internship by default; technology is the subject of the economic problem.

AI creates current questions around competition, labor, financial services, health care, privacy and IP. Students should prepare to discuss model or platform economics rather than simply their use of AI tools.

NERA’s Survey Research and Consumer Behavior practice designs samples and surveys for antitrust, class actions, product liability, consumer protection, securities, labor and regulated industries. [N5]

This can fit students in economics, statistics, psychology, marketing science or data. Good preparation includes sampling, questionnaire design, response bias and quantitative interpretation.

A strong candidate understands that survey evidence can be persuasive only if the sample and questions are defensible.

Ask how the target practice staffs interns and how frequently senior economists review the underlying analysis.

NERA’s value proposition is evidence. The firm describes its role as providing proof-positive economic guidance in high-stakes matters where companies, policymakers, regulators and judges need defensible conclusions. [N1]

Teams are led by in-house experts and work with external academic affiliates. Analysts can therefore be close to senior economists and expert-report development rather than separated by several layers of management. NERA’s official career materials emphasize direct expert interaction, analytical ownership, collegiality and professional development. [N1]

The work is interdisciplinary but practice-specific. An antitrust project can require merger economics and industrial organization. A securities matter can require market data, event studies or valuation. A labor matter can require wage-and-hour or pay-equity analysis. Energy work can require regulatory economics, market design or auctions. Healthcare work can involve mergers, reimbursement, policy, quality or class actions. Digital-platform work can involve antitrust, privacy, AI, securities, intellectual property and consumer protection. [N4][N5][N7]

A student should choose NERA because they want one or more of these analytical problem types, not because “consulting” is a broad career category.

NERA internships are closer to research under economic scrutiny than general strategy consulting. An antitrust, labor, survey or healthcare assignment uses different data and domain knowledge. Choose the office and practice, then show how your analysis would withstand a competing explanation. [N1][N3–N5][N7][N8]