Food, Economics, and Health - Softcover

Bhargava, Alok

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199663912 ISBN 13: 9780199663910

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2012

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Alok Bhargava received his Ph.D. in econometrics from the London School of Economics in 1982. He has held teaching positions at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and University of Houston. Since 1989, he has been working on issues of nutrition, population health, child development, demography, physical anthropology, and epidemiology in developing and developed countries. Most of his publications on problems facing developing and developed countries have appeared in leading scholarly journals; his research is often cited in academic and policy forums and has influenced food policies in many settings.

Review:

Review from previous edition: "Integrating food behavior, health activities, educational investments, and demographic choices into a coherent measure of family and individual welfare is a daunting task. This volume by Alok Bhargava succeeds in doing so at three different levels. First, the
empirical models and techniques are state-of-the-art, so applied econometricians will be happy. Second, the models incorporate accepted bio-physical relationships from the public health and medical communities, so biological scientists interested in health-nutrition linkages no longer feel left out
from economists' analyses. And third, the food policy community now has a rigorous, empirically-based set of relationships that are amenable to public interventions. It is very good to have food policy analysis back on the research agenda in such an integrated and toughly empirical fashion."

--C. Peter Timmer, Centre for Global Development

"Alok Bhargava can always be expected to write important papers and texts on major topics concerning how real people live (or not) and the quality of their lives using advanced arguments from economics and based on skilled use of econometric methodology. Here he tackles the vital interaction
between economics with health, food consumption, and economics tangled up with questions about attitudes to poverty and gender. It should be remembered that countless intellectual giants from the past, such Newton, Galileo, and Shakespeare, lived and succeeded whilst living in conditions that would
now be considered as deplorable. Economics and scientific discovery can take us some way towards making rational decisions but one probably needs philosophy and sound politics to reach the best outcomes. Alok has written an excellent book which requires careful thought and introspection to get all
of its important topics."

--The late Clive Granger

"A very useful and required reference."

--European Review of Agricultural Economics

"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 of Food, Economics, and Health is clear, well documented, and of critical importance to the health
professions... Bhargava provides an important tool to assist readers, whether they are in nutritional science, economics, or the medical profession."

--Journal of the American Medical Association

"This kind of cross-disciplinary reading and integration is vital, if issues of nutrition at the heart of this book - are to be grappled with in a meaningful way. Bhargava is a pioneer."

--Lawrence Haddad, Economic Development and Cultural Change

"This book is a shining example of the immense potential and value of a multi-disciplinary approach...Bhargava fashioned in this book an insightful, detailed and superbly organised presentation of analyses to make his case for the need to improve the quality of our diets - not only for the
purpose of elevating quality of life, but also to improve productivity of labour."

--Tan Xiang Ru, Asian Journal of Social Science

"This book gives excellent insights into how various disciplines can tackle the issues of food and health."

--Aisha Dasgupta, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society

"The book covers a wide variety of topics such as demand for food, child nutrition and cognitive development, fertility and child mortality, nutrition and productivity, diet and obesity. Each chapter is a model of clarity, and backed with solid econometric evidence."

--Raghav Gaiha, Development and Change

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0199663912
• ISBN 13: 9780199663910
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240