Food, Economics, and Health [Hardcover]

Drawing on the author's extensive and varied research, this book provides readers with a firm grounding in the concepts and issues across several disciplines including economics, nutrition, psychology and public health in the hope of improving the design of food policies in the developed and developing world. Using longitudinal (panel) data from India, Bangladesh, Kenya, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Pakistan and extending the analytical framework used in economics and biomedical sciences to include multi-disciplinary analyses, Alok Bhargava shows how rigorous and thoughtful econometric and statistical analysis can improve our understanding of the relationships between a number of socioeconomic, nutritional, and behavioural variables on a number of issues like cognitive development in children and labour productivity in the developing world. These unique insights combined with a multi-disciplinary approach forge the way for a more refined and effective approach to food policy formation going forward. A chapter on the growing obesity epidemic is also included, highlighting the new set of problems facing not only developed but developing countries. The book also includes a glossary of technical terms to assist readers coming from a variety of disciplines.

Excellent... Alok Bhargava must be one of the most widely read microeconomists in the profession, displaying real depth of understanding in the nutrition, health, demography, and behavioral psychology. Bhargava is a pioneer, and we need to make this kind of work less of a rarity. --EconomicDevelopment and Cultural Change

Alok Bhargava is a pioneer in efforts to break down the existing firewalls between the biomedical and social sciences and between the health profession and the food system.... The message ofFood, Economics, and Healthis clear, well documented, and of critical importance to the health professions.... Bhargava provides an important tool to assist readers, wl“-