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Food Economics provides a unified introduction to the economics of agricultural production, business decisions, consumer behavior, and the government policies that shape our food system.
This open access textbook begins with economic principles derived using graphical techniques to explain and predict observed prices, quantities, and other outcomes as a result of individual choices influenced by market structure and public policies. The second half of the book explores available data globally and for the US, covering a wide range of questions in agriculture and economic development, food marketing, and consumption.
Food Economics and its accompanying online resources are designed for advanced undergraduate or introductory graduate courses in agriculture, food, and nutrition policy. The book covers the standard diagrams taught in principles-level courses, with concrete examples and practical insights regarding food production, consumption, and trade. Online resources include data sources, and course materials, including slides, exercises, exams, and answer keys.
List of contents
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Individual choices: explaining food consumption and production.- Chapter 3: Societal outcomes: predicting food market prices and quantities.- Chapter 4: Social welfare: evaluating change in food market outcomes.- Chapter 5: Market power: when innovation, scale economies or policy choices create imperfect competition.- Chapter 6: Collective action: government policies and other social choices.- Chapter 7: Poverty and risk: variation among people and over time.- Chapter 8: Psychology and decision-making: behavioral economics in the food system.- Chapter 9: Food in the macroeconomy: the whole is more than the sum of its parts.- Chapter 10: International development: systemic change over time.- Chapter 11: The world food system: trade, storage and processing within and between countries.- Chapter 12: The future of food: new technology, resource constraints and induced innovation.
About the author
William A. Masters is Professor at Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy with a secondary appointment in the Department of Economics. He is Fellow of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA), International Fellow of the African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE), a former editor of
Agricultural Economics, and a recipient of numerous awards for teaching, research, and policy analysis.
Amelia B. Finaret is Associate Professor at Allegheny College, teaching in the Department of Global Health with a secondary appointment in the Business and Economics Department. She is also Honorary Lecturer for the University of Edinburgh's Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems (GAAFS) and a practicing clinical dietitian at Titusville Area Hospital in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Finaret holds graduate degrees in agricultural and food economics, and she is a registered dietitian (RD) and licensed dietitian nutritionist (LDN).
