Food Economics: Reaching New Audiences in Public Health, Climate Resilience and Development
AAEA members present research at ASSA
AAEA invites media to attend their sessions at the ASSA 2025 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA.
On Friday, January 3, 2025 at 12:30 pm – 2:15 pm (PST) at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, three AAEA members will speak at the session “Food Economics: Reaching New Audiences in Public Health, Climate Resilience and Development.”
Presentations in this session include (speakers are listed first):
Using the Economics of Food to Reach Diverse Students in the Age of Disengagement
- Amelia Finaret, Allegheny College
Higher education in the U.S. is experiencing rapid change, as total undergraduate enrollment continues to decline from its peak at over 18 million in 2010 to under 16 million in 2021, and online distractions continue to limit students’ sustained attention to any one task. This paper describes how new approaches are working to attract and retain interest of both graduate and undergraduate students, overcoming the widespread disengagement from active learning experienced in many schools around the country. Our work uses news stories to show how economic principles can help explain changes in agricultural production, food business, consumer behavior and policy choices, and has students download raw data and make their own charts to see patterns and trends in U.S. and global food systems.
Applied Economics in the Liberal Arts: Teaching about Food, Health, and Human Welfare
- Amy Damon, Macalester College
- Lindsey Novak, Reed College
We explore the challenges and opportunities of teaching and using economic tools to understand nutrition, health, and agricultural production in the context of two small liberal arts colleges. Students in our classes come with unique, interdisciplinary perspectives, a keen interest in social justice, and often a deep skepticism about economics. We use food and health topics to engage these skeptics and help them realize the power of economic thinking in application to themes they care deeply about and often consider outside the purview of economists. Our paper discusses our pedagogical approaches to these topics as well as some of the classroom challenges and successes we have experienced in this specific academic environment.
The Research Agenda from Food to Development: Keeping up with Structural Change in China
- Scott Rozelle, Stanford University
Policy analysis and empirical research in food economics has diversified rapidly, beyond basic needs and farm employment to rural education and human development. This transition is clearest in the case of China, where 35 years of fieldwork and policy dialogue has followed and influenced societal change in successive waves, from early work on food production to migration, education and health. This paper describes the trajectory of research methods, findings and impacts of work through the current “new era” in China today.
If you are interested in attending the session, please contact Allison Ware in the AAEA Business Office.
ABOUT AAEA: Established in 1910, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) is the leading professional association for agricultural and applied economists, with 2,500 members in more than 60 countries. Members of the AAEA work in academic or government institutions as well as in industry and not-for-profit organizations, and engage in a variety of research, teaching, and outreach activities in the areas of agriculture, the environment, food, health, and international development. The AAEA publishes three journals, the Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (an open access journal), the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, as well as the online magazine Choices and the online open access publication series Applied Economics Teaching Resources. To learn more, visit www.aaea.org.
Contact: Allison Ware
Senior Communications & Membership Manager
(414) 918-3190
Email: aware@aaea.org