Picture of Thomas Monk

Thomas Monk

PhD Candidate in Economics, London School of Economics


Bio

I am a fourth year PhD Candidate in Economics at the LSE, supervised by Professor Alan Manning & Professor John Van Reenen. My interests lie within labour economics, focussing on technological change and the labour market with application towards inequality. At the CEP I am working with Professor Alan Manning on attitudes towards migration across the EU.

Research

Working paper: Occupational Skill Content and Technological Change

Abstract: Technological change events fundamentally change the type of tasks performed by human labour within occupations. I develop a predictive model, utilising machine learning techniques, and find that occupational skill intensity data can predict, to a high degree of accuracy, technological change event exposure, as measured by indices developed by Webb (2020). I link these predictions to skills data from a library of newspaper job vacancy adverts to understand how skill intensities have changed over time, and use this this to predict historical occupational technological exposure. Change in occupational technological exposure, as predicted by changing skill intensities, is highly associated with important labour market outcomes.

Working paper: Uncertain Health and Wealth Inequality
(Best Dissertation Prize, MSc Economics, University College London, 2017)

Abstract: Precautionary saving is a key driver of wealth inequality within models of the Bewley-Huggett-Aiyagari canon. However, models with savings rates calibrated solely to idiosyncratic income risk find it difficult to replicate the vast wealth inequality empirically observed in the United States. This paper looks at a potential source of increased precautionary savings - idiosyncratic medical expenses shocks. This paper: i. establishes an identification procedure for medical expenditure shocks across the entire life cycle, ii. finds that idiosyncratic shocks are very highly persistent, iii. establishes the extent to which these shocks contribute to wealth inequality through the effect on savings behaviour.

Teaching

LSE Excellence in Education Award, School of Public Policy - 2021-2022, 2022-2023

LSE Class Teacher Award, School of Public Policy - 2022-2023

LSE Teaching Bonus Award, Department of Economics - 2020-2021, 2022-2023

Graduate

2021-2024: PP455 - Quantitative Approaches and Policy Analysis - Teaching Fellow
Instructors: Dr Jeremiah Dittmar & Prof Mark Schankerman
Student Feedback: MT 2023/24 [4.8], LT 2022/23 [4.9], MT 2022/23 [4.9], LT 2021/22 [4.7], MT 2021/22 [4.7]
Stata for Public Policy: https://stata.jeremiahdittmar.info

2022-2024: EC423 - Labour Economics - Teaching Fellow
Instructors: Prof Guy Michaels & Dr Rui Costa
Student Feedback: MT 2023/24 [4.9], LT 2022/23 [5], MT 2022/23 [5]

2022-2023: Introduction to Data Science for Public Policy - Course Convenor & Lecturer
Course website and teaching material: https://tdmonk.com/dspp/

2021-2023: PP455E - Empirical Methods for Public Policy - Teaching Fellow
Instructors: Prof Daniel Sturm & Dr Gregory Fischer

2021-2024: PP408 - Introduction to Quantitative Methods for the MPA Programme - Course Convenor & Lecturer

Undergraduate

2021-2022: EC202 - Intermediate Macroeconomics - Graduate Teaching Assistant (Summer School)
Instructors: Dr Kevin Sheedy
Student Feedback: ST 2021/22 [4.8]

2020-2022: EC102 - Introductory Macroeconomics - Graduate Teaching Assistant (Summer School)
Instructors: Dr Canh Dang & Dr Antonio Mele
Student Feedback: ST 2021/22 [4.8], ST 2020/21 [4.7]

2020-2021: EC220 - Introduction to Econometrics - Graduate Teaching Assistant
Instructors: Prof Steve Pischke, Prof Taisuke Otsu, Dr Marcia Schafgans & Dr Canh Dang
Student Feedback: MT 2020/21 [4.7], LT 2020/21 [4.6]


Contact

Email: t.d.antispmonk@lse.ac.uk
Mastodon
Office hours: Tuesday 17:30-19:00 term time, within the Centre for Economic Performance. Please book on Student Hub.

2.01 H, Centre for Economic Performance
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE