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Will Masters

@willmasters.bsky.social
3.4K followers 1.1K following 261 posts

Prof. at the Friedman School of Nutrition & Dept. of Economics at Tufts University @tuftsnutrition.bsky.social. Open-access book on Food Economics: Agriculture, Nutrition and Health. sites.tufts.edu/willmasters

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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Back in June 2007, my family and I did some tourism across Ethiopia. Visiting Bahir Dar market, I took this photo of a vendor selling the traditional bars and also loose grains of non-iodized salt. I had no idea that we would later be able to measure its harmful effects.
Vendor selling traditional, non-iodized salt at Bahir Dar market in June 2007
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
...and to see inside, here is Spotify's automated summary of topics:
Screenshot of podcast contents
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
In Accra, celebrating the successful launch of the ANH Africa Regional Collaborative from @anhacademy.bsky.social, I was fortunate to catch the great Gyedu-Blay Ambolley at +233 Jazz. Here is his magnificent take on John Coltrane's A Love Supreme: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP1k.... Wow.
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
The rise and fall of progressive idealism, as tracked by online search for vegan (vs. organic or vegetarian). These data are global, you can click to see differences in timing and relative magnitudes here: trends.google.com/trends/explo... I'll call this the "Henry Vance Index" of idealism. 2/2
Chart of Google trends data on the rise and fall of online searches for "vegan" in contrast to "organic" and "vegetarian"
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Big new paper shows limits to the common belief that healthy & sustainable foods are more expensive than other options. Details: linkedin.com/posts/wamast... Article: doi.org/10.1016/j.aj... Preprint: sites.tufts.edu/foodpricesfo... From @tuftsnutrition.bsky.social, for #foodsky #econsky #foodecon
Screenshot of AJCN articleSlide of data showing higher CO2-equivalent emissions from more expensive options within major food groups Slide of data showing varied or no correlation between retail price and nutritional profile score of widely sold items within major food groups
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Big thanks to #ABCDE2025 for an amazing 4 days blending new research with big-picture debate on global development in this era of political change. Here's their video of my 15-min summary of #FoodPricesForNutrition, on whether & how agriculture can meet health needs: www.youtube.com/live/AEV4YE1...
Screenshot of the World Bank's Preston Auditorium for the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics, July 25th 2025
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
New paper links emotions in artwork to socioeconomic conditions over >500 years. One finding: in W. Europe, paintings got cheerier in the decades after more favorable climatic conditions. Great big-picture stuff from @heblich.bsky.social, w/ C. Gorin & Y. Zylberberg: www.nber.org/papers/w33976
Chart of average temperature and associated emotions expressed in paintings, as measured by "State of the Art: Economic Development Through the Lens of Paintings" by Clément Gorin, Stephan Heblich, and Yanos ZylberbergImages of artwork and their associated emotions, as measured in the paper entitled "State of the Art: Economic Development Through the Lens of Paintings" by Clément Gorin, Stephan Heblich, and Yanos Zylberberg
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Brief review article out today in Food Policy traces the rapid adoption of least-cost diets for monitoring food access. Paper: authors.elsevier.com/a/1lND015oGp... Project: sites.tufts.edu/foodpricesfo... Something new, from @tuftsnutrition.bsky.social + many others as shown by google ngram data:
Screenshot of data from Google Ngrams showing word frequency for use of "least-cost diet", "cost of a healthy diet" and related phrases
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
The role of tobacco company execs in the 1990s rise of harmful processed food is wild -- thx for all your work on that! ...and weirdly the cigarette companies' role might not even be causal. Maybe it's just that game knows game, and they wanted in on a racket that would have happened anyway?
Screenshot of PBS video on tobacco companies buying processed food companies in the 1990s
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Another way they're raising food prices: on Friday June 13th, EPA required use of even more soybeans in diesel fuel. Bulk edible oil prices jumped 9% on the news. Burning crops as fuel is bad for all except growers & processors, who cheered. h/t Aaron Smith agdatanews.substack.com/p/a-big-win-...
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
A new World Bank blog post explains how the #HealthyDietBasket allows us to track #FoodPricesForNutrition around the world: blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/... We'll have more on this at the #ABCDE conference on July 25th, in the @cgdev.org session on ag & food: www.worldbank.org/en/events/20...
Infographic explanation of the Healthy Diet Basket targets used to measure food security around the world
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
The book is a suspenseful how-did-they-do-it mystery, from the first microscopes to transforming the entire living world as it mutates around and within us. Along the way we get a timely re-envisioning of science and its discontents. Lessons for now: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/672378...
Closing paragraph of So Very Small, a book by Tom Levenson
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
A fulfilling escape: just finished reading So Very Small, on the slow then sudden rise of germ theory, antibiotics & vaccination. The deadly dance between people and bugs is riveting when told by @tomlevenson.bsky.social, and touches us all: My dad was saved by early sulfa drugs in Boston c. 1938
Cover of So Very Small, a book by Tom Levenson
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Want a cheap & sustainable healthy diet? New preprint confirms that less expensive options generally emit less GHGs. Main exception is animal source foods. The least emitting healthy diets cost ~$7/day and emit 0.7 kg CO2e, while actual choices cost ~$10 and emit 2.4 kg. arxiv.org/abs/2505.24457
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
A new paper painstakingly details how national food supplies align with nutritional needs around the world, focusing on which nutrients in what foods have and can be industrially fortified. Fortification works only in some settings, but does so at an astonishingly low cost. ssrn.com/abstract=526...
Chart showing the degree to which nutritional requirements have and could be met by industrial fortification of commonly consumed foods worldwide
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
New article with @afinaret.bsky.social explains our #FoodEconomics book, using analytical diagrams and data visualizations to offer accessible insights for general readers, #TeachEcon instructors & students. In AEPP (gated): doi.org/10.1002/aepp... Preprint & resources: sites.tufts.edu/foodeconomics
Screenshot of abstract for article on Food Economics Analytical diagram showing economic principles to explain, predict and assess changes in what farmers produce and consumeScatterplot of GINI coefficients at each level of per capita income
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
New paper on "Measuring Food Access as Affordability of Least-Cost Healthy Diets" tells how this new diagnostic indicator of food security was launched in 2020, now used by FAO & World Bank + others. Deep dive into the data's context, use and limitations: doi.org/10.1111/agec... #TeachEcon #EconSky
Screenshot of abstract for paper on Measuring Food Access as Affordability of Least-Cost Healthy Diets Worldwide
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
It's macro week in my #FoodEconomics class. We'll start with the new tariffs, then economywide balances, inflation and unemployment. Plenty of motivation to #TeachEcon at @tuftsnutrition.bsky.social now! For #EconSky, the current account balance chart is via FRED: fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=D3IM
Class slide showing White House announcements of "reciprocal" tariffsClass slide on aggregate trade deficits offset by capital inflowsClass slide with map of bilateral "reciprocal" tariffs, and average U.S. tariff rates over time
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
...and before the rain smudged everything, in front of city hall
Protest sign saying "Hands off food for kids, protect SNAP and WIC"
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
Signs of the times -- here's the mix around us at #HandsOff in Boston earlier today
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
On Trump's tariffs, it's errors all the way down. AEI's Kevin Corinth & Stan Veuger show how mistaken use of retail vs. trade elasticities raised "retaliatory" rates 4x: www.aei.org/economics/pr... Trump could fire folks, announce the fix, and limit the damage. Would be less wrong... #TeachEcon
Screenshot of text from AEI blog about Trump tariff rates
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Yesterday afternoon's #FoodEconomics class started with real-time reaction to the new tariffs, showing websites of media outlets like the Wall Street Journal. A student asked to see Fox News. Here's the two, live from the classroom camera around 4:30pm. One owner, two audiences. #TeachEcon #EconSky
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Most Americans want regulation of ultra-processed foods, and think the government should be more involved in our health. Great data from Dan Frommer @fromedome.bsky.social: newconsumer.com/trends/consu... Lots to discuss in #FoodPolicy #FoodEconomics & #FoodSky @tuftsnutrition.bsky.social
Survey data showing that around 70% of Americans believe the government has a responsibility to regulate ultra-processed foodsSurvey data showing that most Americans think the government should be more involved in our health
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
PS potatoes are a hot topic for inflation dynamics (paging @dlortega.bsky.social), and a useful contrast to the periodic spike in egg prices due to inelastic demand, lack of storage or trade, & response to bird flu by culling not vax. Egg prices: fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1E6wO #EconSky #FoodSky
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
A striking fact about frozen potato prices is not just their smooth rise during the rapid inflation of 2022-23, but how they did not fall with raw potato prices after that. Courts will decide if this was illegal price-fixing, but you can see the pattern here: fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1BYEB 2/2
Chart of data showing U.S. average prices of raw potatoes, frozen potatoes, and all frozen vegetables and fruits, to illustrate the potential for a price-fixing cartel to have kept retail prices high as farmgate prices fell.
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Just spotted this license plate in Boston -- its tag line pretty well conveys the current stage of Elon Musk's careening career: "Probably on Autopilot"
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
A new study ties the mandate for USAID to Christian faith, spread across Congressional districts in the 19th century via the YMCA etc. U.S. commitment to foreign aid comes from the heart, and from the heartland. Maps from @younbaek.bsky.social's new #jmp #EconSky, here: younbaek.github.io/research
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Senator Andy Kim explains how the Trump-Musk power grab weakens America, enabling corruption at home and abroad -- for example how gutting USAID is a gift to Russia and other rivals to U.S. influence. From convo w/ @jenrubin.bsky.social @contrariannews.org: contrarian.substack.com/p/jen-rubin-...
Screenshot of Senator Andy Kim describing cuts to USAID as helping only Vladimir Putin and other rivals to US influence
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
For #TrainSky folks, here's the impressive all-electric service along the corridor between San Francisco and San Jose. Smooth and quiet. Nothing quite like this on the East Coast, sigh...
Photo of the new all-electric Caltrain service along the San Francisco-to-San Jose corridor
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
Big thanks to everyone who joined our packed room at #ASSA2025 yesterday for the #FoodEconomics session. Wonderful discussion of reaching new audiences through teaching & research. PS book is free to download for phones etc. as ePub or PDF at link.springer.com/book/10.1007... #EconSky #TeachEcon
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
At #ASSA2025 in San Francisco, check out our session on the new #FoodEconomics, linking agriculture to health in research & #TeachEcon, featuring Amelia Finaret, Lindsey Novak & Amy Damon @amydamon.bsky.social, Scott Rozelle and Kathy Baylis. Join us Friday at 12:30pm: www.aeaweb.org/conference/2...
description of ASSA 2025 conference session on teaching and research using the new economics of food, including the Food Economics book here: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53840-7
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Great piece -- and a further concern is that those @fda.gov infographics, with fresh salmon, trail mix and olive oil, just play into the healthy=expensive illusion. Here's a version with cheaper items, also healthy but more affordable and less associated with fancy brands & food culture:
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Making American food healthy again, one step at a time: the @fda.gov published its updated rule on which products can have the word "healthy" on their label, at www.fda.gov/healthy. Regulating labels is good -- next step, regulating contents? #FoodSky #FoodEconomics @tuftsnutrition.bsky.social
Infographic showing the US FDA's updated rule on use of the word "healthy" on food labels, from https://www.fda.gov/healthy
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
New funded PhD opportunity to work with me @tuftsnutrition.bsky.social, as part of the Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Science-Policy Platform from @anhacademy.bsky.social. Research can span all aspects of #FoodEconomics and other methods to inform policy decisions in Africa or Asia. Join us!
Funded PhD opportunity for research in Agriculture, Nutrition and Heath in Africa or Asia -- apply as soon as possible and before January 15th 2024 at the latest. Enquiries to william.masters@tufts.edu.
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
Finally, asking #AllDayTA about the number of family farms gets the right answer--although abbreviated and incomplete. For me, the whole point of using generative AI in higher ed is that it feeds students stuff that's plausible but wrong or insufficient, so they learn to do what AI cannot. 3/3
Screenshot of answers from All Day TA, accurately summarizing material from the Food Economics textbook
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
The lack of logic checks makes AI summaries stumble. Here I asked #AllDayTA why family farms are disappearing. (They're not--this is an optical illusion caused by the companies between us and farmers.) In response it repeated the false premise, then correctly summarized info about farm size. 2/3
Screenshot of All Day TA answer to a question about family farms, mistakenly repeating the false premise of my prompt before accurately summarizing and quoting material from my Food Economics textbook.
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
Just tried #AllDayTA from @alldayta.bsky.social & @afinetheorem.bsky.social. To test cleanly, I gave it just my new textbook on #FoodEconomics. Q: What caused the obesity epidemic? A: Spot on, with great quotes. But generative AI has no logic checker so it repeats things using synonyms. 1/3
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Do you study policies & programs in Africa or South Asia relating to agriculture, nutrition & health? Our ANH Science-Policy Fellowships could fund a year of work linking your research to action. Webinar with Q&A+details is here: www.anh-academy.org/science-poli... +follow @anhacademy.bsky.social!
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Lawsuits allege that frozen potato makers began cheating in 2021, when their prices were flat while raw potatoes and other frozen F&V prices rose; that cartel might have raised prices then prevented price drop in 2023-24. Data's at fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1BYEB, for #TeachEcon & #EconSky 2/2
Chart showing how U.S. wholesale prices for frozen potatoes rose and stayed high in 2023-24, even as other frozen F&V prices were flat and raw potato prices dropped.
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Another optical illusion about world agriculture is the growing importance of international trade--which turns out to have not grown at all since around 2010. We think trade's grown because of global brands on supermarket shelves, but the wave of food-market globalization ended long ago. 3/4
Line graph of global food and nonfood trade from 1980 to 2022, from the book Food Economics: Agriculture, Nutrition and Health
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
One optical illusion about farming is what we see are companies, but almost all crops are still grown on family farms with zero full-time employees. Workers/farm is driven by family size, and area/farm is big where there's lots of land and few people. Charts: link.springer.com/content/pdf/... 2/4
Scatterplot of farm size in terms of number of workers (family members and employees) by average area in hectares, from FAO compilation of national agricultural census data.Bar chart of farm size in terms of area (small, medium and large) by country for which data are available, from FAO compilation of national agricultural census data.
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Is there any grad school other than @tuftsnutrition.bsky.social where student-lounge whiteboards look like this, with nutritional biochemistry sketched out next to #FoodEconomics diagrams, and rabbits in the garden?
Whiteboard in a student office space at Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition, showing study notes with supply-demand diagrams, biochemistry and a cartoon rabbit
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Amazing 📈📉 chart by Brad Setser via @noahpinion.blogsky.venki.dev, showing China’s trade surplus mirroring the US trade deficit. Almost all other countries are near balanced trade right now. The flip side of trade is capital flows, as Chinese people send savings abroad ultimately landing in the US.
Chart of trade surpluses and deficits showing China’s trade surplus mirroring the US trade deficit, with small imbalances from other countries
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Another way to see the huge transfers in 2020 and 2021, making for relatively lower incomes in the Biden years. Source is eig.org/great-transf..., flagged by Adam Tooze substack.com/@adamtooze (+ earlier @mattsclancy.bsky.social & @zmazlish.bsky.social)
Chart of transfer income from government programs, 1970-2022, showing big Covid aid in 2020-2021 and drop thereafter
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
Wow of the day, from @zmazlish.bsky.social's substack jzmazlish.substack.com/p/yes-inflat... (h/t @mattsclancy.bsky.social): Median change in US households' real after-tax income over 4 years whiplashed from +3.0% in Trump's first term to -1.7% in Biden's, due partly to timing of Covid stimulus.
Chart of data from Zachary Mazlish showing median change in real household income for Americans, after taxes and transfer payments, during each Presidential term from Clinton through Biden. Data show a large and unprecedented drop during Biden's term due in large part to the end of Covid stimulus payments.
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 22/10/2024
U.S. opinion has turned sharply against grocery providers and the restaurant industry--blaming them for food inflation, and also for unhealthy food? Amazing data from Gallup, reposted here from the other site via Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social for the growing #FoodEconomics 📉📈crowd here.
Chart showing sharp turn in U.S. public opinion of the grocery industry since 2020 Chart showing a modest but potentially important turn against the restaurant industry in U.S. public opinion
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 16/10/2024
In today's panel discussion at Tufts about SNAP and WIC, Ben Chrisinger @bchrisinger.bsky.social and Di Fang (U of Florida) shared big insights with Yui Chang at the Friedman School of Nutrition @tuftsnutrition.bsky.social. Thank you!
Panel discussion at the Friedman School of Nutrition, Tufts University
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 05/10/2024
The power of #OpenAccess: in just five months there's been over 100k free online uses of the #FoodEconomics book. If each user browsed 5 chapters, that's >20k unique users. You can join them here: link.springer.com/book/10.1007... and check out our teaching blog: sites.tufts.edu/foodeconomics 📉📈
Screenshot showing over 100k online accesses of the Food Economics book, since its publication in May 2024 (as of October 5th)
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 05/10/2024
Good news on obesity rates in the U.S. -- so far covered only by the FT's John Burn-Murdoch and Axios' Caitlin Owens? Details from @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social here: on.ft.com/3zJVVuQ Axios image is via Mike Allen's newsletter: www.axios.com/newsletters/... Lots of 📉📈 #FoodEconomics to study!
Screenshot of U.S. obesity rate data from the CDC, reported by AxiosScreenshot of U.S. obesity data from the Financial Times
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Will Masters @willmasters.bsky.social · 07/08/2024
In New Delhi for the ICAE2024 global gathering of ag economists, two EconSky stars on one panel: @hopecm.bsky.social and @davidwuepper.bsky.social. So much 📈📉!!
Photo of economist Hope Michelson answering questions at the ICAE2024 meeting in New Delhi
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