ABOUT ME
June 17, 2020: Accepted promotion and started working at USDA Farm Production and Conservation Business Center earlier this month!
November 9, 2019: I earned my PhD from the University of Minnesota (December 2018), and recently started a job as a Research Agricultural Economist at the USDA’s Economic Research Service. I am based in the Food Markets Branch and will be producing the Food Price Outlook.
I use the tools of experimental economics, behavioral economics, and machine learning to study consumer food demand with the goal that we can all eat healthier, more affordable, and more sustainable diets.
As people are becoming increasingly aware of the food systems we participate in, many preferences are evolving to reflect concerns about health, the environment, and the vitality of local economies. At the same time, demand for convenience and resource-intensive foods is also increasing.
Culture, commodities, and choices.
Economists like to talk about food in terms of commodities, which are agricultural products that are standardized into different classes of quality and size to make trading easy.
Usually, the only people who talk about food in terms of commodities are economists and people who grow or trade them. Most people talk about food in terms of what they eat. I'm going to try to do both.
Economic theory says that decisions are simply about weighing trade offs to buy whichever bundle of goods maximizes utility given a limited set of resources. Though, that's probably not what you're thinking about at the store, eh?
