Essential Teaching Resources for Food Economics: Unlocking Agriculture, Nutrition, and Health Insights

Welcome to the blog where we share insights about our new open-access textbook, Food Economics: Agriculture, Nutrition and Health. Published in May 2024 by Palgrave MacMillan, our mission is to make food economics accessible to everyone interested in this essential topic.

This site, managed by Will Masters and Amelia Finaret, includes updates from our classes at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and Amelia’s work at Allegheny College. We’re excited to share useful resources like slides, exercise prompts, and past exams in the near future. In the meantime, feel free to subscribe to our elist for updates about the book.

This textbook is designed for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and anyone keen to learn about food economics. The first section introduces basic economic concepts using food examples, while the second part dives into how food systems operate, complete with tables, charts, and reliable data links. Our extensive Handbook chapter serves as the backbone for the book, providing over 300 citations to current literature:

Masters, W.A., A.B. Finaret, and S.A. Block, 2022. The Economics of Malnutrition: Dietary Transition and Food System Transformation. Handbook of Agricultural Economics, vol. 6: 4997-5083. Amsterdam: Elsevier. (For those interested, a preprint is available.)

Since its release, our book has attracted more than 10,000 unique users from 156 countries within five months. We’ve actively shared our work through symposiums, including recent sessions at the AAEA in New Orleans and the ICAE in Delhi. We’ve also enjoyed discussing the book on various podcasts:

• Norbert Wilson’s Leading Voices in Food podcast (16 min)
• VoxDev’s Development Economics podcast (30 min)
• Anotida Chikumbu’s Book Series podcast (51 min)

If you’re curious about our research, you can explore the personal websites of the authors. Will Masters leads the Food Prices for Nutrition project, which aims to measure global food access based on healthy diet costs. The textbook builds directly from Will’s food economics courses at Tufts, where students with varying backgrounds can dive into the subject.

For additional learning, students can enroll in individual courses like this through Courses@Tufts. The Friedman School’s strong faculty and diverse programs cover all aspects of human nutrition and agriculture, making it a hub for anyone interested in global food systems.

Thanks for visiting! We look forward to engaging with you as we explore how economics shapes our food systems.

— Will Masters and Amelia Finaret
Learn more about us: Will Masters | Amelia Finaret

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