Cannabis in Consolidation? Investment, Operating Pressures, and Anti-Competitive Characteristics in the Cannabis Industry
Michael Polson, Staff Researcher
Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Open. Apprentices needed for the fall semester. Enter your application online beginning August 21st. The deadline to apply is Monday, August 31st, 4pm.
Students will be working to support a project on the cannabis industry and the general work of the Cannabis Research Center in disseminating research and engaging the public.
The project is a mixed method investigation of: 1) anti-competitive and monopolistic practices of cannabis investors and owner-operators; 2) protective factors enabling small business and social equity operators to weather these behaviors; 3) patterns of investment and ownership at state, national and international levels that may threaten the competitive landscape of California’s cannabis economy; and 4) current and potential policies effective in preventing anti-competitive behaviors and protecting small business. We couple a top-down social-economic network analysis of statewide investment patterns with bottom-up ethnography of investor-operator relations, in California and beyond with an emphasis on protective strategies of small/equity businesses.
Role: Undergraduate researchers will work with project researchers on production and finalization of a final report to the State of California on project findings. This includes:
- Organizing and documenting datasets and analysis outputs.
- Creating and refining figures, tables, and visualizations for the final report.
- Conducting background research on cannabis market policies, licensing regulations, and industry reports.
- Assisting with ownership verification and company relationship checks for concentration analyses.
- Supporting report writing through literature summaries, editing, fact checking, and reference management.
- Helping assemble appendices, data dictionaries, and methodological documentation.
Qualifications: Preferred qualifications would be strong organizational skills, attention to detail, experience with Excel or data analysis, and good writing skills. Familiarity with Python, R, GIS, or network analysis would be a plus but is not required.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Hsuan-Wei "Wayne" Lee, Staff Researcher
Hours: to be negotiated
Off-Campus Research Site: Most meetings will be virtual except for possibly one or two in-person meetings with advisors
Related website: http://crc.berkeley.edu
Related website: http://www.michaelpolson.com