Research and Publications

Research interests

• Connections between agriculture, nutrition, and health

• True cost of eating healthy diets, including environmental, social, and health externalities

• Gender and women's empowerment in agricultural development programs

Work in progress

1. Martinez EM, Blackstone NT, Wilde PE, Masters WA. Environmental impacts, nutritional profiles, and retail prices of commonly sold retail items in 181 countries: an observational study. Under review, 2024. (See the working paper here.)

2. Martinez EM, Masters WA. Are processed foods more expensive? Food processing and retail prices by food group in 172 countries, 2011 and 2017. In progress, 2023.

3. Martinez EM, Masters WA. An expanded framework for the true value of food: costs and benefits of food systems activities for the environment, society, and health. In progress, 2023.

Journal articles

1. Malapit H, Heckert J, Adegbola YP, Crinot GF, Eissler S, Fass S, Gantoli G, Kalagho K, Martinez EM, Meinzen-Dick R, Mswero G, Myers E, Mzungu D, Pereria A, Pinkstaff C, Quisumbing A, Ragasa C, Rubin D, Salazar ES, Seymour G, Tauseef S, GAAP2 Market Inclusion Study Team. Measuring empowerment across the value chain: the evolution of the project-level Women’s Empowerment Index for Market Inclusion (pro-WEAI+MI). 2023; under review.

2. Connors K, Jaacks LM, Awasthi A, Becker K, Kerr RB, Fivian E, Gelli A, Harris-Fry H, Heckert J, Kadiyala S, Martinez E, Santoso MV, Young SL, Bliznashka L. Women’s empowerment, production choices, and crop diversity in Burkina Faso, India, Malawi, and Tanzania: a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data. The Lancet Planetary Health 2023; 7(7): E558-69. 

3. Wallingford J, Martinez EM, Masters WA. COVID-19 mobility restrictions and stay-at-home behaviour were associated with higher retail food prices worldwide. Global Food Security 2023; 37: 100702. 

4. Heckert J, Martinez EM, Sanou A, Pedehombga A, Ganaba R, Gelli A. Can a gender-sensitive integrated poultry value chain and nutrition intervention increase women’s empowerment among the rural poor in Burkina Faso? Journal of Rural Studies 2023; 100: 103026. 

5. Heckert J, Martinez EM, Seymour G, Pereira A, Roy S, Kim SS, Malapit H, GAAP2 Health and Nutrition Study Team. Development and validation of a health and nutrition module for the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI+HN). Maternal & Child Nutrition 2023; e13464.

6. Bezares N, Fretes G, Martinez EM. Can fixing dinner fix the planet? Journal of Public Health Policy 2022;43: 473-475.

7. Leight J, Awonon J, Pedehombga A, Ganaba R, Martinez E, Heckert J, Gelli A. The impact of an integrated value chain intervention on household poultry production in Burkina Faso: evidence from a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Development Effectiveness 2022; 14:  108-124.

8. Bezares N, Fretes G, Martinez EM. The role of food and beverage companies in transforming food systems: building resilience at multiple scales. Current Developments in Nutrition 2021; 5(9): nzab110.

9. Quisumbing A, Sproule K, Martinez EM, Malapit H. Do tradeoffs among dimensions of women’s empowerment and nutritional outcomes exist? Evidence from six countries in Africa and Asia. Food Policy. 2020 Dec;102001. In press. 

10. Malapit H, Ragasa C, Martinez EM, Rubin D, Seymour G, Quisumbing A. Empowerment in agricultural value chains: Mixed methods evidence from the Philippines. Journal of Rural Studies. 2020 May;76:240-253.

11. Malapit H, Quisumbing A, Meinzen-Dick R, Seymour G, Martinez EM, Heckert J, Rubin D, Vaz A, Yount KM, GAAP2 Study Team. Development of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI). World Development. 2019 Oct;122: 675-692.

12. Yount KM, Cheong, YF, Maxwell L, Heckert J, Martinez EM, Seymour G. Measurement properties of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. World Development. 2019 Dec;124: 104639. 

13. Kållberg C, Årdal C, Blix HS, Klein E, Martinez EM, Lindbæk M, Outterson K, Røttingen JA, Laxminarayan R. Introduction and geographic availability of new antibiotics approved between 1999 and 2014. PloS One. 2018 Oct 16;13(10): e0205166.

14. Broniatowski DA, Klein EY, May L, Martinez EM, Ware C, Reyna VF. Patients’ and clinicians’ perceptions of antibiotic prescribing for upper respiratory infections in the acute care setting. Medical Decision Making. 2018 Jul;38(5):547-61.

15. Klein EY, Van Boeckel TP, Martinez EM, Pant S, Gandra S, Levin SA, Goossens H, Laxminarayan R. Global increase and geographic convergence in antibiotic consumption between 2000 and 2015. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2018: 201717295.

16. Klein EY, Martinez EM, May L, Saheed M, Reyna V, Broniatowski DA. Categorical risk perception drives variability in antibiotic prescribing in the emergency department: A mixed methods observational study. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2017 Oct 1;32(10):1083-9.

17. May L, Klein EY, Martinez EM, Mojica N, Miller LG. Incidence and factors associated with emergency department visits for recurrent skin and soft tissue infections in patients in California, 2005–2011. Epidemiology & Infection. 2017 Mar;145(4):746-54.

18. Masters WA, Hall A, Martinez EM, Shi P, Singh G, Webb P, Mozaffarian D. The nutrition transition and agricultural transformation: a Preston curve approach. Agricultural Economics. 2016 Nov 1;47(S1):97-114.

Book chapters

1. Masters WA, Martinez EM, Greb F, Herforth A, Hendricks SL. The cost and affordability of preparing a basic meal around the world. In von Braun J, Afsana K, Fresco LO, Hassan MHA (Eds.), Science and Innovations for Food Systems Transformation. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2023.

2. Martinez EM, Myers EC, Pereira A. The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Routledge Handbook of Gender and Agriculture. 2020 Oct 29:298-312.

Working papers, reports, and briefs

1. UN-Nutrition (lead author: Martinez, EM). Nutrition and the environment: nurturing people, protecting the planet. Rome, FAO, 2023. 

2. Malapit H, Heckert J, Adegbola YP, Crinot GF, Eissler S, Fass S, Gantoli G, Kalagho K, Martinez EM, Meinzen-Dick R, Mswero G, Myers E, Mzungu D, Pereria A, Pinkstaff C, Quisumbing A, Ragasa C, Rubin D, Salazar ES, Seymour G, Tauseef S, GAAP2 Market Inclusion Study Team. Measuring empowerment across the value chain: the evolution of the project-level Women’s Empowerment Index for Market Inclusion (pro-WEAI+MI). IFPRI Discussion Paper 02172, 2023.

3. Heckert J, Martinez EM, Sanou A, Pedehombga A, Ganaba R, Gelli A. Can a gender-sensitive integrated poultry value chain and nutrition intervention among the rural poor increase women’s empowerment in Burkina Faso? IFPRI Discussion Paper 02114, 2022.

4. Masters WA, Martinez EM, Greb F, Herforth A, Hendricks SL. Cost and affordability of preparing a basic meal around the world. United Nations Food Systems Summit Brief. New York: Scientific Group of the UN Food Systems Summit, 2021.

5. Ragasa C, Malapit H, Rubin D, Myers E, Pereira A, Martinez E, Heckert J, Seymour G, Mzungu D, Kalagho K, Kazembe C, Thunde J, Mswelo G. "It takes two": Women's empowerment in agricultural value chains in Malawi. IFPRI Discussion Paper 02006, 2021. 

6. Quisumbing A, Sproule K, Martinez EM, Malapit H. Women’s empowerment in agriculture and nutritional outcomes: Evidence from six countries in Africa and Asia. IFPRI Discussion Paper 01930, 2020.

7. Leight J, Awonon J, Pedehombga A, Ganaba R, Martinez EM, Heckert J, Gelli A. The impact of an integrated value chain intervention on household poultry production in Burkina Faso. IFPRI Discussion Paper 01919, 2020.

8. Malapit H, Ragasa C, Martinez EM, Rubin D, Seymour G, Quisumbing A. Empowerment in agricultural value chains: Mixed methods evidence from the Philippines. IFPRI Discussion Paper 01881, 2019.

9. Malapit H, Quisumbing A, Meinzen-Dick R, Seymour G, Martinez EM, Heckert J, Rubin D, Vaz A, Yount KM, GAAP2 Study Team. Development of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI). IFPRI Discussion Paper 01796, 2019.

10. Yount KM, Cheong YF, Maxwell L, Heckert J, Martinez EM, Seymour G. Measurement properties of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. IFPRI Discussion Paper 01798, 2019.

11. Drug-resistant infections: A threat to our economic future. The World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017 (part of special studies team on laboratory-based surveillance). 

12. Gelband H, Okeke IN, Aboderin AO, Martinez E, Matu M. East Africa Public Health Laboratory Networking Project: Strengthening the role of laboratories in tracking antimicrobial drug resistance in East Africa. Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy, Washington, DC, 2016. 

Presentations and workshops

1. Martinez EM, Blackstone NT, Wilde PE, Masters WA. Retail prices for sustainable, healthy diets: are foods with lower environmental impacts and healthier nutritional profiles also more expensive? (oral presentation) AAEA Annual Meeting. July 24, 2023, Washington, DC, USA.

2. Martinez EM, Blackstone NT, Wilde PE, Masters WA. Retail prices for sustainable, healthy diets: are foods with lower environmental impacts and healthier nutritional profiles also more expensive? (oral presentation) ANH Academy Week 2023. June 30, 2023, Lilongwe, Malawi. Conference paper.

3. Martinez EM, Masters WA. SCANR: resources and guidance for research in agriculture, food systems, nutrition, and health (workshop). ANH Academy Week 2023, June 19, 2023, virtual. 

4. Martinez, EM. Are healthier, more environmentally sustainable foods more expensive? (oral presentation). Tufts Research and Data Symposium for Food and Nutrition. March 9, 2023, virtual.

5. Martinez EM, Masters WA. SCANR: resources and guidance for interdisciplinary research in agriculture, food systems, nutrition, and health (workshop). Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia Conference. November 8, 2022, virtual.

6. Masters WA, Herforth AW, Martinez EM. Food prices for nutrition: cost and affordability of healthy, sustainable diets worldwide (workshop). Planetary Health Annual Meeting. November 1, 2022, Boston, MA, USA. 

7. Martinez EM. Towards positive nutrition and environment interlinkages for people and the planet (seminar). United Nations Environment Programme Brown Bag Seminar. October 27, 2022, virtual. 

8. Martinez EM. Are environmentally sustainable foods more expensive? (oral presentation) Tufts Friedman School Board of Advisors Meeting. October 20, 2022, Boston, MA, USA.

9. Martinez EM. Are environmentally sustainable foods more expensive? (oral presentation) Food & Nutrition Innovation Council Fall Meeting. October 18, 2022, Boston, MA, USA.

10. Martinez EM, Masters WA. Food processing and retail prices in 177 countries, 2011 and 2017 (poster). AAEA Annual Meeting, August 2, 2022, Anaheim, CA, USA.

11. Martinez EM, Masters WA. Role of food processing, cooking fuel, and time use for meal preparation in diet costs across 177 countries, 2011 and 2017 (oral presentation). ANH Academy Week 2022, June 28, 2022, virtual.

12. Martinez EM, Masters WA. SCANR: resources and guidance for analysis of secondary data in agriculture, food systems, nutrition, and health (workshop). ANH Academy Week 2022, June 20, 2022, virtual.

13. Martinez EM, Masters WA. Role of food processing in the cost and components of healthy diets in 177 countries, 2011 and 2017 (oral presentation, won award). Nutrition 2022, June 10, 2022, virtual.

14. Martinez EM, Masters WA. Diet costs by type of food processing in 177 countries, 2011 and 2017 (oral presentation). Tufts Research and Data Symposium for Food and Nutrition. March 5, 2022, virtual.

15. Martinez EM, Masters WA. Patterns and change in retail food prices across 165 countries: evidence from the ICP, 2011-17 (oral presentation). 2021 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting. August 2, 2021, virtual. 

16. Martinez EM, Boehm R. Diversity and inclusion are not enough: why racism in agricultural economics in a market failure that hurts our field (oral presentation). 2021 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting. August 3, 2021, virtual. 

17. Martinez EM. Food-based poverty lines and safety nets for affordability of healthy diets (oral presentation). UNFSS Science Days Side Event on the True Cost of Food, July 7, 2021, virtual. 

18. Martinez EM, Masters WA. Trends and patterns in retail food prices of similar foods: evidence from the ICP, 2011-2017 (poster). ANH Academy Week 2021, June 29, 2021, virtual. 

19. Martinez EM, Masters WA: SCANR: resources and guidance for analysis of secondary data in agriculture, food systems, nutrition, and health (workshop). ANH Academy Week 2021, June 21, 2021, virtual. 

20. Martinez EM. Food insecurity amid the COVID-19 lockdowns in Nigeria: do impacts on food insecurity persist after lockdowns end? (poster). Nutrition 2021, June 7, 2021, virtual. 

21. Martinez EM. Food insecurity in the time of COVID-19 (guest lecture). Science and Civic Action Course, Tufts University, September 29, 2020.

22. Martinez EM, Seymour G. Who is empowered? Predictors of empowerment in six countries in Africa and Asia (oral presentation). Sustainability & Development Conference, October 14, 2019, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

23. Galie A, Martinez E, Quisumbing A. Measuring empowerment in agricultural development projects using WEAI and WELI (workshop). Agriculture, Nutrition, and Health Academy Week 2019, June 25, 2019, Hyderabad, India.

24. Martinez E and Myers E. The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index: Quantitative and qualitative approaches (seminar). International Food Policy Research Institute, June 12, 2019, Lilongwe, Malawi. 

25. Martinez E, Seymour G. Who is empowered? Predictors of empowerment in Bangladesh and Ghana (oral presentation). Seeds of Change: Gender Equality through Agricultural Research for Development, April 4, 2019, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

26. Heckert J, Martinez E, Quisumbing A. Integrating gender and nutrition into agricultural development projects (workshop). Seeds of Change: Gender Equality through Agricultural Research for Development, April 2, 2019, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

27. Malapit H, Martinez E, Meinzen-Dick R, Myers E, Pereira A, Rubin R. Using the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) for agricultural development projects (workshop). Seeds of Change: Gender Equality through Agricultural Research for Development, April 2, 2019, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia. 

28. Martinez E, Malapit H, Meinzen-Dick R, Pereira A, Quisumbing A, Rubin D, Seymour G. Who is empowered? An analysis for predictors of empowerment in six countries in Africa and Asia (poster presentation). Women and Gender in Development Conference 2019, February 28, 2019, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA.

29. Martinez E, Seymour G. The core project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (oral presentation). Project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index Launch Event, October 25, 2018, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC.

30. Malapit H, Heckert J, Martinez E. Using the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) for nutrition-sensitive programming (workshop). CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research Annual Scientific Conference, September 27, 2018, International Livestock Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

31. Martinez E. The project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index: How we are developing a new index (oral presentation). CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research Annual Scientific Conference, September 25, 2018, International Livestock Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

32. Martinez E. Measuring women’s empowerment in nutrition-sensitive agricultural development projects (oral presentation). Tropentag 2018, September 18, 2018, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium. 

33. Quisumbing A, Sproule K, Martinez E, Malapit H. What dimensions of women’s empowerment matter for nutritional outcomes? Evidence from six countries in Africa and Asia (poster presentation, won poster award). Tropentag 2018, September 18, 2018, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium. 

34. Heckert J, Malapit H, Martinez E, Meinzen-Dick R, Quisumbing A, Rubin R, Seymour G, Vaz A, Yount K. Development of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) (poster presentation). Tropentag 2018, September 17, 2018, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium. 

35. Heckert J, Martinez E. Using the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) for nutrition-sensitive programming (workshop). Agriculture, Nutrition, and Health Academy Week 2018, June 26, 2018, Accra, Ghana.

36. Lentz E, Zougouri S, Heckert J, Martinez E. Integrating gender into research on agriculture, nutrition, and health (workshop). Agriculture, Nutrition, and Health Academy Week 2018, June 26, 2018, Accra, Ghana.

37. Malapit H, Martinez E. The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI): Incorporating gender and mixed methods into nutrition research (workshop). CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research Annual Scientific Conference, December 8, 2017, KIT Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 

38. Malapit H, Heckert J, Martinez E. The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI): Foundations and adaptations for project use (workshop). Agriculture, Nutrition, and Health Academy Week 2017, July 9, 2017, Kathmandu, Nepal. 

39. Klein E, Martinez E, May L, Saheed M, Reyna V, Broniatowski D. Categorical risk perception drives variability in clinician antibiotic prescribing in the acute-care setting (poster presentation). Infectious Disease Society of America Conference, October 30, 2016, New Orleans, LA. 

40. Klein E, Gandra S, Pant S, Mojica N, Martinez E, Laxminarayan R. Global antibiotic use and resistance (poster presentation). Infectious Disease Society of America Conference, October 28, 2016, New Orleans, LA.

41. May L, Klein E, Miller E, Martinez E, Mojica N. Recurrent skin and soft tissue infections in emergency department patients in California, 2005-2011 (poster presentation). Infectious Disease Society of America Conference, October 28, 2016, New Orleans, LA.

Research blogs

1. Martinez E. Digging deeper into gender and equity at ANH Academy Week. Gender-Nutrition Idea Exchange, July 11, 2019. 

2. Theis S, Martinez E, Myers E. You will be afraid of doing anything on your own: Agricultural development, intimate partner violence, and women’s agency. Agrilinks, December 4, 2018 (cross-posted on IFPRI blog).

3. Theis S, Martinez E. How gender shapes responses to climate change: New tools for measuring rural women’s empowerment. IFPRI Blog, October 14, 2018.

4. Martinez E. Discussing agency, access, and accelerometers in Accra. Gender-Nutrition Idea Exchange, July 16, 2018. 

5. Martinez E, Seymour G. Introducing pro-WEAI: A tool for measuring women’s empowerment in agricultural development projects. Gender-Nutrition Idea Exchange, April 27, 2018 (cross-posted on Agrilinks). 

6. Martinez E, Seymour G, Malapit H. Measuring women’s empowerment in agricultural development projects. Rural 21, April 9, 2018.

7. Martinez E, Heckert J. How many people will an intervention reach? A how-to guide for indirectly estimating the number of pregnant women in a subpopulation. Gender-Nutrition Idea Exchange, January 19, 2018.

8. Martinez E. Counting the hours: The challenges of measuring time use. Gender-Nutrition Idea Exchange, August 30, 2017. 

9. Martinez E. Researchers highlight gender and equity at the ANH Academy Week. Gender-Nutrition Idea Exchange, July 26, 2017. 

10. Martinez E. Progress in designing and implementing the project-level WEAI. Gender-Nutrition Idea Exchange, March 27, 2017.

11. Martinez E. Taking on antibiotic resistance: Ambassador of the Netherlands hosts seminar in Washington, DC. CDDEP Blog, April 15, 2016. 

12. Martinez E. Will Zika plague the summer Olympics? CDDEP Blog, March 31, 2016. 

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