Nicolas Legrand

Nicolas Legrand is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at Virginia Tech. He joined the department in August 2023 to conduct research for the Center for Agricultural Trade. His research focuses on commodity price instability in global markets, employing economic models to analyze factors affecting spot and futures markets. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Paris Saclay University (2016), an M.S. in Energy and Environmental Economics (2013), and a B.S. in Agricultural and Environmental Engineering (2013), all from Paris Saclay University.

Legrand has held roles including Visiting Research Scholar at Georgetown University (2021–2023), Permanent Research Fellow at INRAE (2017–2023), and Postdoctoral Fellow at Toulouse School of Economics (2017). His expertise spans agricultural trade policy, applied econometrics, and international development economics. He has contributed to peer-reviewed journals such as Quantitative Economics, Journal of Applied Econometrics, and Journal of Economic Surveys.

His recent publications address commodity storage dynamics, structural explanations of price volatility, and the impact of geopolitical events like the Ukraine war on global food markets. He advises on research strategies and collaborates with institutions like Total and the Europlace Institute of Finance. His work bridges theoretical economic models with real-world policy challenges in agriculture and trade.