Léonard Bocquet
Welcome !
I am a postdoct at the University of Cambridge, affiliated to Trinity college, and working with Vasco Carvalho.
Previously, I was a PhD student at the Paris School of Economics. In Spring 2022, I was visiting Ben Moll and Ricardo Reis at the London School of Economics.
My research interests cover Macroeconomics, Labor Economics and Trade. I also have an interest in tools from Network Economics.
Contact lb2058 (at) cam (dot) ac (dot) uk
CV link to CV here
WORKING PAPERS
The Network Origin of Slow Labor Reallocation [new draft] [slides] [slides short]
Why do workers displaced by technological or trade shocks reallocate slowly to other occupations? This paper builds a network of skill frictions across occupations, where nodes are occupations and edges denote possible transitions. Leveraging HR data on skills, I show that the occupation network is sparse, with tightly-connected clusters and few bridge occupations linking them. Moreover, French administrative data reveal that transitions through bridge occupations facilitate reallocation to better employment opportunities. To explain this, I develop a theoretical model of job search within networks, demonstrating that bridge occupations can create bottlenecks that significantly affect reallocation speed. I further enrich the model with quantitative extensions, generalizing dynamic hat-algebra techniques for estimation and solution. Calibrating on French data, I find that automation and AI result in slow reallocation; however, employment policies targeting bridge occupations can substantially accelerate reallocation. This suggests that the structure of the occupation network matters for labor market policies.
Presented: PSE Internal Macro seminar, PSE-Sciences Po GSIE seminar, Networks and Games seminar - Paris I-Pantheon Sorbonne, Junior Search and Matching seminar 2022, Cambridge Junior Network workshop 2022, PSE-Labor Chair Workshop, Sciences Po IO/Trade reading group, 8th Annual Conference on Network Science and Economic, 2nd PSE-Sciences Po-OCFCE workshop, 8th European Networks Conference, RES conference 2023, 18th Doctorissimes conference, 4th London E1 Workshop on Quantitative Macroeconomics, Theories and Methods in Macroeconomics 2023, BSE Summer Forum 2023 - Macro Fluctuations with Micro Frictions, AFSE conference 2023, EALE 2023, Cambridge Janeway Institute-Macro seminar, Cambridge Network Seminar, KCL-College de France Junior Research Day 2023, EALE 2024* (scheduled)
WORK IN PROGRESS
On Worker Reallocation and Gender Norms (with Kenza Elass)
On Bargaining in Firm Networks
An Analytical Theory of Imperfect Firm Selection