Posts by: Will Masters

COVID, jobs and prices in the U.S. food system: How much has changed?

By On October 28, 2020 · In Econ-o'food

By Leah Costlow & Will Masters

More than 7 months into the pandemic, America remains in upheaval. Massive job losses, disease risks and other disruptions continue to affect almost every American household. What’s happened to jobs and prices in the food system?

Back in […]

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Faith in humanity

By On October 28, 2020 · In Advice, Econ-o'food

One of the hardest tasks in economics is to recognize and understand self-interest without condoning selfishness. There is some evidence that Econ 101 might attract and encourage more selfish behavior, a tragic mistake which the great economist Paul Samuelson described as “

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Thinking like an economist, about breastfeeding in Japan

By On September 29, 2020 · In Students' start-of-class essays

Our start-of-class essays invite students to begin “thinking like an economist” by describing a familiar thing as a three-part story: (a) your own decisions, (b) the decisions of other people with whom you interact, and (c) the rules or technologies that guide interactions. The first step requires only introspection, about our own […]

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Possible course projects: Medically tailored meals

By On September 29, 2020 · In Student posts

Right now, around week 3 of the semester, students start formulating their project topics. Here’s the initial project motivation from hospital dietician Andrea Cooper, who wrote:

I work with elderly people at risk of malnutrition. Medically tailored meals could be a lifesaver.

Older adults […]

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Possible course projects: Agricultural subsidies in the U.S.

By On September 29, 2020 · In Student posts

At this point in the semester, students start formulating their project topics. Here’s an initial description of a potential topic from MNSP student Jieun Wrigley:

The US farm bill is the primary agricultural and food policy tool of the federal government. In 2020 alone, US farmers are likely to receive as […]

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How do we fix the food system? Black Lives and Gen C point the way

By On June 28, 2020 · In Academic life, Econ-o'food

A Friedman alum recently sent me a draft plan for how to fix the broken U.S. food system, wondering what I thought of it. That prompted a long response which I’ll share with you here.

If you’re in a hurry — tl, dr: The real culprit behind our food woes is systemic political and […]

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Active learning in Zoom lectures: polls, texting and breakout rooms

By On June 24, 2020 · In Academic life

Today I did a CELT workshop on what I’ve learned about online teaching at Friedman so far, in a series for faculty to share experiences and lessons learned for the coming year. We had 49 participants from all parts of the university. By coincidence, that’s […]

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Friedman seminar on COVID-19 impacts in agriculture, food and nutrition

By On April 23, 2020 · In Econ-o'food

This semester’s all-school speaker series ended with two panels on COVID-19, first on disease forecasting from Elena Naumova & Ryan Simpson, and then on impacts in ag., food & nutrition from me, Sean Cash and Norbert Wilson.
You can stream the archive […]

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Updated slides on Covid-19 impacts on food systems

By On April 10, 2020 · In Econ-o'food

The slide deck can be downloaded here. Feel free to adapt & use! Slide #3 is a gif showing spread across countries.

For the full thread on twitter, click below:

For our @TuftsNutrition PhD seminar, a longer updated slide deck on #COVID impacts on agriculture, food & nutrition, starting with […]

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Four slides on COVID-19 in the food system (+jobs links)

By On April 4, 2020 · In Econ-o'food

Public outreach generally works better on twitter, but here is a blog version of some posts there about COVID-19 in the food system. This virus is tearing a huge hole in the fabric of every society on earth, with a sudden, synchronized loss of life and well-being that makes almost everything harder. With fewer […]

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