William A. Masters
Welcome
I am a Professor at Tufts University, in the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and (by courtesy) in the Department of Economics. Detailed contact info is at the top of my CV. I look forward to hearing from you!
Click to lists below of recent news, publications and presentations, or use google scholar to see what I have written and maps to where I work.
- Feb 2015 forthcoming article with USAID in Food Security on agricultural policy for improved nutrition
- Feb 2015 recorded webinar for SPRING on integration of agricultural and nutritional interventions
- Jan 2015 first blog post for this semester’s econo’food class (NUTR 238 students sign in here)
- Nov 2014 launch of IMMANA Fellowships (concept notes due 10 January 2015)
- Nov 2014 AgriLinks video of USAID talk on urbanization and smallholders
- Aug 2014 blog post on AAEA award for publication of enduring quality for my 2001 paper about climate and economic development
- July 2014 blog post on contest design for AgResults: winner-take-all prizes are popular, but broader incentives may work better
- May 2014 radio on Marketplace about agricultural research: why staple crops are still the real superfoods
- Sept 2013 UN SDSN report on sustainable solutions for agriculture and food systems
- Aug 2013 opening of public blog for my new online class (registered students log in here)
- Aug 2013 AAEA Bruce Gardner Memorial Prize for Applied Policy Analysis (recognizing my work on contest incentives; the $1500 prize fund went here)
- Apr 2013 comments in Chronicle of Higher Education article on a controversial nutrition assistance proposal
- Mar 2013 hyperinflation vacation with Graeme Wood in The Atlantic, with my Zimbabwe wall of shame (vs. other African money)
- May 2012 why carbon taxes would be better than counting food miles, on the Freakonomics blog
- Apr 2011 Radio Australia interview on world food crisis (with Crawford Fund director Denis Blight)
- Jan 2011 piece in the Tufts Journal (and earlier in Tufts Nutrition magazine) about asymmetric information in child nutrition
- Oct 2010 Nutrition CRSP launch, nicely described in the Tufts Daily
- Oct 2010 photos from Zimbabwe & Zambia trip for US State Dept., with news coverage here and there
- July 2010 notes from talks in Nigeria for US State Dept., with some news coverage
- May 2010 farewell talk for the graduate students at Purdue, with commentary on the Freakonomics blog
- Apr. 2010 op-ed for Project Syndicate entitled “Planting the Seeds of Africa’s Growth”
- Jun. 2009 fun with economics on the Freakonomics blog
- Feb 2015 article in Food Security on agricultural policy for improved nutrition [preprint]
- Aug 2014 3rd ed. of textbook on Economics of Agricultural Development is out (at your local bookshop, online or request an exam copy)
- Apr 2014 article in Journal of Economic Growth on agriculture and urbanization [preprint]
- Apr 2014 article in Journal of Development Economics on disease and development in Burkina Faso [preprint]
- Apr 2014 article in African J. of Ag. and Resource Economics on Malawi’s input subsidy program [PDF]
- Feb 2014 article for Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences on ag., nutrition & health in global development [preprint]
- Oct 2013 SSRN working paper on theory vs. experimental results in prize contests
- Sept 2013 GAIN report on improving nutritional value chain for peanut products in Ghana
- Sept 2013 GFS article on urbanization & farm size in Asia and Africa [preprint]
- July 2013 NBER working paper on disease control, demography and development in Burkina Faso
- Jan 2013 Japanese edition of our Econ of Ag Development textbook
- Jan 2013 book chapter on child nutrition in economic development
- Oct 2012 article in Journal of Development Studies on child nutrition and poverty reduction
- May 2012 chapter on Transformational Incentives in USAID’s Frontiers in Development book and conference; with related CGD paper by Kim Elliott
- May 2011 Chicago Council Progress Report on U.S. Leadership in Global Ag Development (see press release and some commentary)
- Feb 2011 IGC working paper and policy brief on quality certification of infant foods in Ghana
- July 2010 chapter on development and policy for Lusk, Roosen and Shogren’s Oxford Handbook on the Economics of Food Consumption and Policy
- June 2010 article in Journal of Public Economics on proportional vs. winner-take-all contests [preprint]
- June 2010 article in Economics and Human Biology on underweight children in developing countries [preprint]
- Mar. 2009 World Bank book on Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Africa
- Feb 2015 recorded webinar for SPRING on integration of agricultural and nutritional interventions
- Dec 2014 talk at IEG-IFPRI conference in New Delhi on rural children’s nutrition in India vs. Africa & the rest
- Dec 2014 talk at Delhi School of Economics on market access and farm nutrition [+paper]
- Nov 2014 slides for Fletcher Food Policy Group on agricultural transformation in Africa
- Oct 2014 talk at Gates Grand Challenges meeting on aligning agriculture and nutrition
- Sept 2o14 talk at IFPRI on market access as a source of resilience and nutrition security
- July 2014 talk at USAID on urbanization and smallholder farmers in Africa
- July 2014 talk at AAEA on global nutrition trends
- June 2014 talk on quality certification logos for GAIN multi-nutrient supplements initiative at NYAS
- May 2014 posters on complementary foods and peanut-based products for Micronutrient Forum in Addis Ababa
- May 2014 new slides and handout for NCFAR Capitol Hill seminars on agricultural development [+favorite slides #1 and #2]
- Mar 2014 updated slides on agriculture-nutrition linkages for HSPH course in global health
- Mar 2014 updated slides on global malnutrition at MIT Knight science journalism food boot camp
- Nov 2013 presentation slides for Tufts Medical School seminar on infant food quality
- Aug 2013 AAEA presentations on global malnutrition and agriculture-nutrition linkages
- June 2013 poster describing new project on marketed complementary foods (+high-res version)
- June 2013 slides (or PDF) on nutritional quality of marketed complementary food for A4NH workshop
- Mar 2013 changing face of malnutrition talk at MIT Knight science journalism food boot camp
- Oct 2012 slides for APHA on infant feeding in developing countries
- Sep. 2012 slides for Maggie McMillan’s Econ 136 on disease, demography and development
- Aug. 2012 presentations at the AAEA meetings on infant feeding, African development and foreign assistance
- Apr 2012 workshop on Food Wars in Africa? at the Harvard International Development Conference
- Mar 2012 discussion of Africa’s turnaround at MIT Knight Fellows’ Food Boot Camp [+ book chapter]
- Mar 2012 talk on Proportional Prizes at NC-1034 meeting, Washington DC [+ new paper]
- Feb 2012 talk on Africa’s Last Famine? at the Radcliffe Gym (event site) [Video]
- Jan 2012 talk on food security at the Northwestern University human rights conference
- Jan 2012 symposium on malnutrition at the NCSE conference in Washington, DC.
- Oct 2011 talk on Africa’s turnaround (+book chapter) at the African Economic Conference in Addis
- Oct 2011 talk on food prices and nutrition at McGill conference on food security (program here)
- Sep 2011 Seminar on infant foods at Harvard School of Public Health (streaming video, slides with photos (huge file, 48MB !)
- Aug 2011 NBER African Successes conference paper, slides and presentation on Africa’s turnaround
- July 2011 Nutrition CRSP implementation workshop in Kampala (photos)
- June 2011 Nutrition CRSP launch workshop in Kampala (see photos)
- May 2011 Tufts research day on sustainability (see new slides and book chapter)
- Apr 2011 Stanford symposium on poverty in Africa — discussant for Chris Barrett seminar (my bit starts around 70 minutes into the streaming video)
- Mar 2011 paper + slides on Africa’s turnaround, for the Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance and Harvard African Development Conference
- Feb 2011 webcast + slides on world food crises, for Friedman School online seminar
- Feb 2011 streaming video of presentations at the IFPRI 2020 conference in New Delhi on the Nutrition CRSP (5 min.) and on the economics of infant feeding (10 min.)
- Dec 2010 talk on Africa’s turnaround, in French as Le moment africain (ppt slides and mp3 audio, from SFER)
- Dec 2010 talk on asymmetric information in agriculture at NSF-ICG-AERC workshop in Mombasa
- Nov 2010 talk on remedies for asymmetric information in food and agriculture at Tufts economics department
- Nov 2010 talks on undernutrition for the Friedman Symposium and the Board of Overseers
- Nov. 2009 talk at the AfDB African Economic Conference on incentives for innovation
- Oct. 2009 talk at the ADA Food and Nutrition Conference on world food markets
