In many ways, the modern market for food exemplifies the economist’s conception of perfect competition, with many buyers, many sellers, and a robust and dynamic marketplace. But over the course of the last century, the U.S. has witnessed a dramatic shift away from traditional diets and toward...

In many ways, the modern market for food exemplifies the economist’s conception of perfect competition, with many buyers, many sellers, and a robust and dynamic marketplace. But over the course of the last century, the U.S. has witnessed a dramatic shift away from traditional diets and toward...

This paper places the modern spread of diet-related chronic disease in the United States within the context of more than a century of innovation in food processing technology, discovery in nutrition science, and corrective policy measures aimed at improving public health. We ask whether the...

Vaccines against several common foodborne pathogens are being developed and could substantially alter the policy tools available to address foodborne illness. However, little analysis is available to suggest how social welfare would be affected by these new vaccines. To address this void, we use...

In market-oriented economies, agricultural markets and marketing functions become increasingly important as the food system evolves. This paper focuses on how selected dimensions of markets and marketing functions can be studied and evaluated in Third World settings. The specific purpose of this...

Vaccines against several common foodborne pathogens are being developed and could substantially alter the policy tools available to address foodborne illness. However, little analysis is available to suggest how social welfare would be affected by these new vaccines. To address this void, we use...

Social critics have taken aim at modern production agriculture using a common theme: many food, health, and environmental problems are explained by corporate farms, agribusinesses, and fast-food restaurants failing to account for the full costs of their actions. How accurate is this diagnosis?...

The present paper studies the impact of market imperfections on heterogeneous firm output, productivity, and profit in the presence of food price volatility. Using a unique firm-level panel data set for about 20,000 agricultural producers in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), we estimate the...

Economic efficiency is a key issue for economic research and for policy design, and certainly for food security challenges. In the food system dynamics the understanding of changes and trends is crucial to improve our capacity in dealing with sustainable development and quality of life...

The maize-oriented agricultural economies throughout Southern Africa are in fundamental transition. Increased recognition of the costs of historical controls on pricing and marketing already has led to partial maize market liberalization in several countries in the region. However, there is...