Hi – thanks for visiting. I am a Professor at Tufts University, in the Friedman School of Nutrition with a secondary appointment in the Department of Economics. Timeline of links below summarize recent work, or click links for publications and funding details, see a few talks on vimeo & youtube, music playlists or my school page or AAEA bio.
Blog posts, photos and outreach are on twitter and on my FoodEcon site.
Recent publications (open access or link to preprint)
- Mar 2021 article on global nutritional inequality in Nature Food
- Mar 2021 working paper on retail food price data worldwide
- Feb 2021 article on restaurant menu item descriptions in AJPM
- Jan 2020 article on topic selection and research ethics in AEPP
- Jan 2020 working paper on measuring resilience in panel data
- Jan 2020 book chapter on agriculture and undernutrition
- Dec 2020 article on seasonality of diet costs in Science Advances
- Dec 2020 background paper on diet costs for the UN system SOFI 2020
- Oct 2020 article on affordability of nutritious diets in Food Policy
- Sept 2020 article on health equity & child heights in EHB [preprint]
- Sept 2020 article on infant feeding & displacement in MCN
- July 2020 article on a new diet-health index in BMJ Global Health
- Jan 2020 article on affordability of better diets in Lancet Global Health
- Sept 2019 article on children’s first foods in Food Policy
- July 2019 report on quality of infant foods for IFPRI-Malawi
- June 2019 technical brief on economic evaluation for ANH Academy
- June 2019 article on seasonality of nutrition outcomes, in AJCN
- May 2019 review article on economics of nutrition, in ARRE
- Feb 2019 chapter on agriculture for nutrition, in CABI-IFPRI book
- Oct 2018 article on contest incentives for child nutrition, in JDE
- Aug 2018 article on price indexes for cost of nutritious diets, in AJAE
- Aug 2018 article on nutrition knowledge, in MCN [preprint]
- July 2018 article on age misreporting and child heights, in Demography
- Apr 2018 article on education and nutrition in BMC Public Health
- Jan 2018 article on contest design and incentives in JEBO [preprint]
- Jan 2018 article on costs & impacts of food interventions in HPP
Recent news and media
- Feb 2021: Tufts Now on food prices and diet costs
- Dec 2020: Nature Outlook on diet costs & affordability
- Dec 2020: Tufts Now on what faculty members learned from COVID
- May 2020: World Bank blog post on food prices around the world
- May 2020: Cheddar 6-min interview on COVID and the food system
- May 2020: Newsy 4-min video explainer on COVID and food supply
- Apr 2020: Boston Globe on COVID outbreaks at meatpacking plants
- Apr 2020: Econofact+PBS & Tufts Now on COVID impacts on food
- Dec 2019: NPR column on policies to achieve just-right nutrition
- Dec 2019: VoxDev column on cost & affordability of healthy diets
- Nov 2019: news, webinar on global affordability of EAT-Lancet diets
- Oct 2019: Boston Globe on bottled drinks as the new energy bars
- Mar 2019: Fourteen questions about food (especially veganism)
- Feb 2019 Hungry Planet free online course from SDG Academy & edX
- June 2018 Boston Globe on recyclable packaging vs. less packaging
- Jan 2018 Boston Globe on supply chain failures at Whole Foods
- Oct 2017 Marketplace radio on decline in ‘diet’ soda and rise of healthier eating habits
- Dec 2016 NYTimes report on infant foods in Maternal & Child Nutrition [preprint]
Recent presentations (click title for slides)
- Apr 2021, COVID impacts + diet costs talk for Tufts alumni
- Mar 2021, Malnutrition & food system change for AAEA (event, video)
- Feb 2021, Food prices and healthy diets for USAID evidence exchange
- Feb 2021, discussant for IFPRI book launch
- Dec 2020 Affordability of healthy diets for FAO nutrition event
- July 2020 Cost of healthy diets in SOFI 2020 for ANH Academy
- July 2020 Rural markets, nutrition & resilience for USAID webinar
- June 2020 Active learning in online lectures for Tufts CELT workshop
- Mar 2020 New food price indexes [+video] for DFID econ seminar
- Oct 2019 Cost and affordability of diets [+video] for Friedman seminar
- Oct 2019 Costs of diets as a policy indicator [+1 pager] for USAID
- Oct 2019 Quality of infant cereals in Malawi [+1 pager] for USAID
- Sept 2019 Markets for nutrition (video) at the Gates Foundation
- Sept 2019 Econo-nutrition (video) for the UC Network Summer School
- Aug 2019 Cost of diets for Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Nutrition
- July 2019 Proportional rewards in prize contests, for AAEA symposium
- June 2019 Food trade & nutritional inequality (video), for ANH plenary
- June 2019 Affordability of nutritious diets for the ANH learning labs
- June 2019 Cost-effectiveness of ag-nut projects for ANH learning labs
- June 2019 Multidisciplinarity as crossing cultures, for AAEA workshop
- June 2019 Access to nutritious diets for panel on food systems at ICABR
- May 2019 NAS committee on inducement prizes (slides here)
- May 2019 IFPRI seminar & video on cost of nutritious diets (+ slides)
- May 2019 Economics for nutrition for Tufts Talks Obesity
- May 2019: Tufts Teaching with Technology award (video, slides)
Links below list archived news and media, publications and presentations
Student & project papers at ASN (Baltimore), June 8-11
- June 8th 9:40-9:44, Poster Theater 1 Flash Session
- Shibani Ghosh on Measuring resilience in nutrition
- June 8th 11:35-11:39, Poster Theater 1 Flash Session
- Danielle Krobath on Menu descriptions and health halos
- June 8th 11:00-12:00, Poster session
- Anna Herforth on Cost of recommended diets (Board #17)
- Kate Schneider, Nutrient adequacy at the household level (Board #39)
- June 9th 1:45-2:45, Poster session
- Winnie Bell & Keith Lividini on Global inequality in food and nutrition (Poster Board #224)
- June 10th 12:45-2:45, Poster session
- Amelia Finaret, Sibling rivalry in health of twins (Poster Board #531)
- Binita Subedi, Nutrients and contaminants in premixed infant cereals (Poster Board #286)
- June 10th, 10:30-12:30 — Oral Session #21 on Improving Diets in Vulnerable Populations (room 317)
- Ilana Cliffer [11:00-11:15], Displacement effects of fortified flours versus lipid-based supplements
- Yan Bai [11:15-11:30], Heterogeneity in nutrient needs and diet costs
Student & project papers at AAEA (Atlanta), July 21-23
- Track session on market prices and malnutrition, with Robel Alemu, Yan Bai and Derek Headey and Ellen McCullough
- Selected papers from the CANDASA project:
- Stevier Kaiyatsa: “Do remote rural people pay higher prices for more nutritious foods? Evidence from 130,975 price observations at rural markets in Malawi, 2007-2017”
- Kate Schneider: “Advancing the use of household surveys for nutrition: Nutrient adequacy at the household level and the cost of nutritious diets in Malawi”
- Fantu Bachewe: “Affordability of nutrient adequacy and dietary energy in Ethiopia, 2001-2017”
- Selected paper from the Nutrition Innovation Lab:
- Sonia Zaharia: “Measuring Resilience: A Triple-Difference Approach”
- Feb 2018 video (7 min.) from Global Food+ speed talk on infant foods
- Sept 2017 video (~1 hr) of Johns Hopkins SAIS seminar on agriculture & nutrition in Africa
- Aug 2017 Boston Globe and WBZ television on how Amazon will change Whole Foods
- June 2017 Econofact post about temporary, fraud-resistant nature of SNAP
- June 2017 Agrilinks post about agriculture’s impacts on poverty, nutrition and resilience
- May 2017 Boston Globe story about the vanilla price spike and cyclone Enawo
- Apr 2017 Econofact post about child orientation of SNAP and the 2018 Farm Bill
- Apr 2017 video, slides, & paper on impacts of ag research for USAID webinar
- Dec 2016 NYTimes report on infant foods in Maternal & Child Nutrition [preprint]
- Nov 2016 comments on NEPR radio about the food policy ballot question in MA
- Oct 2016 analysis on WBUR.org about the food policy ballot question in MA
- June 2016 results of FSIN TWG: User’s guide to indicators of food & nutrition security
- Apr 2016 video on dietary transition and urbanization
- Feb 2016 video of Friedman seminar on nutritional quality of infant foods
- Jan 2016 article + explainer about restaurant portion size in the US (+other news coverage)
- May 2015 video made by MIT students on urban and peri-urban farming near Boston
- Mar 2015 launch of the FSIN working group on measuring food & nutrition security
- Feb 2015 webinar for SPRING on integrated agriculture-nutrition interventions
- Nov 2014 video for AgriLInks on urbanization and smallholders
- Aug 2014 blog quote from IFPRI for AAEA publication of enduring quality award
- July 2014 blog post for AgResults on incentives for agricultural innovation
- May 2014 radio quote on Marketplace about staple crops and superfoods
- Sept 2013 report from UN SDSN on sustainable agriculture and food systems
- Aug 2013 Bruce Gardner Memorial Prize from AAEA ($1500 award went here)
- Apr 2013 news quote in Chronicle of Higher Ed on nutrition assistance programs
- Mar 2013 hyperinflation vacation in The Atlantic, with my Zimbabwe wall of shame
- May 2012 blog quote on the Freakonomics blog on food miles v. carbon pricing
- Apr 2011 interview on Radio Australia about the world food crisis
- Jan 2011 article in Tufts Journal (and Tufts Nutrition magazine) about child nutrition
- Oct 2010 Nutrition CRSP launch, nicely described in the Tufts Daily
- May 2010 blog post at Freakonomics about my farewell talk at Purdue
- Apr. 2010 blog post for Project Syndicate with optimism about Africa
- Jun. 2009 econo-doggerel at Freakonomics (reprinted in When to Rob a Bank)
Older articles and working papers
- Dec 2017 article on ag & nutrition transition, forthcoming in J. of Development Studies
- Oct 2017 article on priority interventions for S. Asia & Africa in Mat & Child Nutrition
- Aug 2017 article on incentives to improve childcare services in J. of Health Economics
- June 2017 report for the World Bank on groundnut policy in Senegal
- May 2017 technical note for FAO on measuring the cost of nutritious diets
- Feb 2017 book chapter on private-sector land development in Africa
- Jan 2017 article on nutrition smoothing in PLOS ONE
- Dec 2016 article on nutrient testing of infant foods in Mat & Child Nutrition [reprint]
- Sept 2016 working paper on dietary change for Global Panel Foresight Project
- Sept 2016 chapter on economic causes of malnutrition for Good Nutrition book
- Aug 2016 article on climate and child height in Economics & Human Biology [open access]
- July 2016 article on agriculture and nutrition transition in Agricultural Economics [preprint]
- July 2016 chapter on land use for festschrift in honor of Hans Binswanger-Mkhize
- June 2016 technical assessment and user’s guide to indicators of food security and nutrition
- Jan 2016 article in JAND about restaurant portion size in the US (+news coverage)
- June 2015 article in Food Security on urbanization and rural malnutrition [open access]
- Mar 2015 FASEB abstracts on rural isolation and health outcomes, self-weighing and weight loss, and nutritional composition of infant foods
- 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
- Apr 2019: Slides on cost of nutritious diets for Tufts Global Health seminar
- Apr 2019: Talk on food system governance, at Purdue EGH event
- Feb 2019: Discussion on research ethics [framing ppt, pdf], with PhD students at Tufts
- Dec 2018: Seminar on cost of nutritious diets, at IFPRI
- Oct. 2018: Paper on infants’ first foods [+slides] presented by Samira Choudhury at NEUDC
- Oct. 2018: Presentation on diet transformation [in pdf] for public BIFAD meeting at World Food Prize week
- Oct. 2018: Birthdates and height-for-age speed talk [+paper] at Tufts nutrition data summit
- July 2018 ICAE slides – links to session info:
- speed & timing of nutrition transition, at PIM workshop
- price indexes for cost of nutritious diets, at ARENA workshop
- ag-nutrition linkages, in session on agriculture for the SDGs
- caregiver incentives, in session on nutrition
- hermetic storage, in session on food security
- June 2018 ICABR talks on nutrition knowledge [slides] and on fortified infant cereals [slides]
- June 2018 ANH Academy Learning Lab on prices indexes for nutritious foods [description, slides]
- June 2018 ANH Academy Learning Lab on econ for agri-health researchers [description, slides, video]
- June 2018 students at ASN – links to session info:
- Yan Bai on cost of nutritious diets [slides]
- Kate Schneider on nutrition knowledge [poster]
- Gloria Guevara on demand for hermetic bags [poster]
- Jifan Wang on diet quality measurement [poster]
- May 2018 slides for DFID on cost of nutritious diets
- Feb 2018 slides + video (7 min) speed talk on infant foods from Global Food+
- Jan 2018 slides + paper on cost of nutritious diets for ASSA
- Nov 2017 slides on caregiver incentives for World Bank seminar on JHE paper
- Oct 2017 slides on IMMANA Fellowships & cost of nutritious diets for IUNS ICN
- Oct 2017 lecture on agricultural development: a global, long-term perspective
- Sept 2017 slides on nutrition transition & agricultural change in Africa at SAIS and USAID
- Sept 2017 slides for IFPRI talk on child diet diversity, and UPenn talk on childcare incentives
- July 2017 AAEA slides on child diets, ag research, nutrition smoothing and errors in child age
- July 2017 video of ANH Academy Learning Lab on economics for agri-health researchers (all slides: 87MB!)
- Apr 2017 slides, paper & video on impacts of ag research for USAID webinar
- Apr 2017 paper on incentives for child caregivers at Tufts economics faculty seminar
- Nov 2016 slides on structural change for FAO workshop on nutrition and trade
- Nov 2016 slides on cost of dietary diversity for FAO workshop on nutrition and trade
- Nov 2016 slides for Clark University seminar on infant foods
- Nov 2016 slides for NEUDC on caregiver incentives in India (+ discussant slides)
- Aug 2016 slides for AAEA panel on agricultural transformation in Africa
- June 2016 slides and FSIN Users Guide to indicators of malnutrition for the ANH Academy
- Apr 2016 slides + video for Tufts research day on diets, urbanization and the race against Malthus
- Feb 2016 slides for Harvard Weatherhead seminar on sustainable food & farming
- Feb 2016 video and slides (in pdf) of Friedman seminar on premixed complementary foods
- Nov 2015 presentation for Rome-Based Agencies joint technical workshop on SDG2
- Oct 2015 presentation for BIFAD side event at World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue
- Oct 2015 presentation at Rutgers University joint agriculture-nutrition seminar
- Aug 2015 ICAE plenary presentation on nutrition transition and agricultural transformation
- Aug 2015 ICAE presentations on ag-nutrition linkages and aligning agriculture and nutrition
- Aug 2015 ICAE presentation on nutritional quality of packaged complementary foods
- Aug 2015 ICAE poster on smoothing of seasonal malnutrition in DRC
- Aug 2015 ICAE presentation on investment in farmland with Derek Byerlee and Dan Robinson
- Mar 2015 paper for World Bank conference on investment in farmland with Derek Byerlee and Dan Robinson
- 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