Why is breakfast so expensive?
This blog post first appeared in the C-FARE newsletter for March 2025. Grocery prices are back in the headlines. Food
Read moreAuthor: Will Masters
Econo’food potluck 2025, back home edition
Our 11th annual class potluck was back at home! To see the context, check out posts on previous events featuring
Read moreFamily background
Professors and others teachers often know more about their students’ family backgrounds than vice-versa. That’s part of the job. Today I’d like to say a bit more about my family, to level the field so anyone who cares might know a bit more about where I came from.
Read moreEcono’food potluck 2023 — long awaited back in person
After three years of you-know-what, we returned for a 9th edition of the econo’food potluck last week. One change for
Read moreOverthinking the basics: timed exams
Like most others in higher education, I’ve responded to students’ pandemic stress by figuring out how to do things more
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My one-slide picture of the U.S. food system, as seen through price changes over time
I just updated my favorite one-slide picture of change since the early 1970s: You may want to click on the
Read moreCOVID, jobs and prices in the U.S. food system: How much has changed?
By Leah Costlow & Will Masters More than 7 months into the pandemic, America remains in upheaval. Massive job losses,
Read moreFaith in humanity
One of the hardest tasks in economics is to recognize and understand self-interest without condoning selfishness. There is some evidence
Read moreThinking like an economist, about breastfeeding in Japan
Our start-of-class essays invite students to begin “thinking like an economist” by describing a familiar thing as a three-part story:
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