Research

Directions of my research:

 My research has focused on two areas. 

• The first (primary) area of research focuses on the intersection of consumer economics and nutrition, mostly on food security, food banks, nutrition demand, and food policy. 

• The second area of my research focuses on how generic advertising impacts consumer demand. 

Achievements in Research

Publications (Ph.D.)

A Welfare Analysis of Norways Export Promotion Programme for whitefish  (with Henry Kinnucan and Ingrid Pettersen)

• Norway recently increased the effective levy used to fund its export promotion programme for whitefish by 21 per cent. Study results suggest the intensified programme is welfare increasing. The net social gain, defined as the difference between the increase in economic surplus associated with the increased advertising and the decrease in economic surplus associated with the increased effective levy, is estimated at between $20 million and $136 million per year, for a best-bet estimate $60 million. The associated benefit–cost ratio (BCR), defined as the ratio of the aforementioned changes in economic surplus, is estimated at between 11 and 71, for a best-bet estimate of 32. The BCR is invariant to the supply elasticity. The invariance property is useful as it implies that the BCR can be estimated using strictly demand-side information; there is no need to estimate the supply side of the market. The current levy of 0.75 percent appears to be well below the levy that would maximize producer welfare.

Benefits of Agricultural R&D International Spillovers: The case of Aquaculture (with Henry Kinnucan and Nguyen)

• International spillovers from research and development (R&D) arise when technology developed in one geopolitical region is adopted by another region, resulting in a divergence between social and private benefits from the technology. Applying this concept to aquacultural R&D, study results based on a partial equilibrium model of the global fish market suggest the magnitude of spillovers depends crucially on where the R&D occurs. When the R&D occurs in the developing world and assuming the cost savings to the developed world from the technology transfer equals half the cost savings experienced by the developing world, spillover effects are shown to be negligible. A basic reason is that developing countries account for over 90% of the global production of farmed fish. Consequently, technology “leakages” to the developed world have a modest effect on the global supply of farmed fish, and thus on the price and welfare effects of the technology transfer. In contradistinction, spillovers associated with technology leakages in the other direction, namely from the developed to the developing world, are shown to be both large and economically important. When spillover effects are taken into account the global annual gain ($4.9 billion) from a 2.5% import tax used to fund aquacultural R&D in the developed world is estimated to be 4.9 times larger than the domestic annual gain ($1.0 billion). 

WTO must ban harmful fisheries subsidies ((Project led by Dr. Sumaila Rashid and there are 273 co-authors from 222 institutions in 44 countries across 6 continents)

• To curb overfishing, biodiversity degradation and loss, and CO2 emissions, and to safeguard food and livelihoods, WTO members must prohibit fisheries subsidies that cause harm, such as those that lower the cost of fuel and vessel construction and those that provide price support to keep market prices artificially high. Sustainably managed wild fisheries support food and nutritional security, livelihoods, and cultures. Harmful fisheries subsidies—government payments that incentivize overcapacity and lead to overfishing—undermine these benefits yet are increasing globally. World Trade Organization (WTO) members have a unique opportunity at their ministerial meeting in November to reach an agreement that eliminates harmful subsidies. We—a group of scientists spanning 46 countries and 6 continents—urge the WTO to make this commitment.

Publications (Pre-Ph.D.)

How South Asia Performed in Food and Nutrition Security? (with Amarender Reddy and CR Rani)

• South Asia is having the largest number of undernourished children in the world and within South Asia, India's share of having the undernourished children is the highest. This paper aims to examine the headway of food and nutritional condition of South Asian countries with a special focus on India. South Asia comprises India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Maldives, but for this study, we have not included Bhutan and Maldives due to less than a million populations. We have used Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO food security indicators from 1990 to 2016 with a detailed analysis of food availability, accessibility, stability, and utilization. In food availability and stability parameters, most of the countries of South Asia including the region as a whole performed better, whereas, in the case of food access indicators like the prevalence of undernourished and food utilization indicators like stunting among children and anemia among pregnant women; many South Asian countries underperformed and failed to meet up the targets set for millennium development goals (MDGs). Overall, Iran and Sri Lanka performed better; India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal performed at a mediocre level and Afghanistan performed worst in almost all the indicators. The experience of achievements in MDGs will be helpful in planning for sustainable development goals with more emphasis on undernourishment, stunting among children, and anemia among women, especially in countries like Afghanistan and India, which are lagging behind in these indicators.

Work in Progress 

Job Market Paper

Financial Liquidity Constraint and Food Insecurity (with Joel Cuffey and Shouli Zhao)

• Paper in brief- Households' limited accessibility of adequate quantity or quality of food due to insufficient household resources and money. Food insecurity is associated with an array of detrimental health outcomes including mental health problems, higher risks of certain birth defects, and diabetes. Since income is imperative to mitigate food insecurity, thus disruption in income affects the pattern of consumption. Enough short-term cash in hand can be a solution to mitigate food insecurity. Our study aims to answer three questions: 1) Is the scarcity of short-term cash in hand related with household food insecurity, independent of long-term income? 2) Does this relationship vary over race? 3) What factors explain racial heterogeneity? A few studies have explored the association between food security and household assets. However, assets might not fully capture liquidity constraints if households are not able to borrow. In this study, we measure liquidity constraints in a more comprehensive manner by asking the respondents directly about their ability to obtain money immediately through hypothetical scenarios. We leveraged a survey on the online Qualtrics panel to obtain data. Using the survey data, we estimated a linear probability model. We find that households are more likely to be food insecure if they are financially liquidity constrained. Surprisingly, among black households, we find no relationship, suggesting racial heterogeneity in our study. Despite being unemployed and not having access to formal institutions to borrow money, the liquidity constrained households can combat food insecurity. One of the reasons might be the strong social networking they have, which helps them to avert food insecurities despite having inadequate cash on hand. Price is one of the important determinants that motivate the decisions for food shopping of black households. Financial liquidity constrained black households are more likely to be food insecure if they do not have access to low-priced food items.

Estimating Demand System

Working Papers

Estimation of the effects of generic advertising on market demand: An ADL Approach (with Henry Kinnucan)

• The advantages of the autoregressive distributed lag (ADL) model for estimating the effects of generic advertising on market demand are evaluated by applying the model and attendant methods to data used in a recent study of Norway’s export promotion program for whitefish. The dynamic specification differed greatly depending on model selection criteria (Akaike Information, Hannan-Quin, Schwarz, and Adjusted R2). Despite this, there was little to choose between the specifications in terms of the estimated long-run demand elasticities. The estimated short-run elasticities differed among the specifications, with the model selected by the Hannan-Quin criterion indicating a more elastic response to income than the model selected by the Schwarz criterion. The bounds test for cointegration, a special feature of the ADL approach, proved useful in distinguishing between the appropriateness of quantity- and price-dependent specifications of the demand equation. Tests for weak exogeneity of the regressors indicated adjustments in quantity are 5.5 times more important than adjustments in price in resolving dynamic disequilibria caused by random (monthly) shocks to long-run demand. 

Book Chapter

Third-generation biofuels and Food Security; Book (In 3rd Generation Biofuel: Disruptive technologies to enable commercial production) (with Deepayan Debnath) (Expected Publication May 2022)

• Third-generation biofuels can mitigate the ongoing "food vs fuel" debate. The production of feed stocks of first- and second-generation biofuels requires agricultural lands that are used for producing food crops. Owing to lack of land, the supply of food crops is constrained, and raises the prices of food. Third- generation biofuels are more sophisticated than the previous generations. The feed stocks of the third-generation biofuels can be grown on ponds, aquatic places and thus do not occupy the agricultural lands. Thus, they do not inhibit the production of food crops.

Extension Work

Challenges and Opportunities for Beginning Small and Medium-Sized Producers in the Southeast (with Valentina Hartarska, Dennis Nadolnyak and Kandilov)

• Reaching out to the extension agents for updating the literature.

• Testing empirically how beginning farmers and ranchers impact agriculture in the southeastern region of the US, especially focussing on women farmers.