Julie A. Caswell
Professor
Recent Publications |
Recent Activities |
Curriculum Vitae
My work focuses on understanding the operation of domestic and international food systems, analyzing how well they work, and evaluating how government policy affects their operation and performance. My particular interest is in the economics of food quality, especially the quality attributes of safety and nutrition. How are markets for food safety and nutrition developing given increased consumer demand for safer, more nutritious products; manufacturers and retailers' efforts to meet this demand; and increased regulatory activity by national governments to assure food quality? I am also interested in the economics of certification, traceability, and labeling for quality attributes. Examples of my work include how to prioritize the importance of different foodborne risks, whether regulatory programs such as Hazard Analysis at Critical Control Points (HACCP) will enhance food safety at a reasonable cost, how benefit and risk information can be balanced and effectively communicated to consumers, and how international trade agreements influence food quality.
Recent Publications
Economics of Food Quality | Economics of Food Certification, Traceability, and Labeling | Impacts of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Regulations on International Trade in Food Products | Food Assistance Programs
Economics of Food Quality
Caswell, Julie A. In Press. Development of Risk-Based Food Safety Systems for Foodborne Infections and Intoxications. In Foodborne Infections and Intoxications, 4th Edition, ed. J. Glenn Morris and Morris Potter. Elsevier.
Caswell, Julie A. 2013. Challenges in Choosing the Mix of Public and Private Standards for Food Quality Assurance. In The Federal Policy Role in Today’s Food and Agricultural Markets, ed. Walter J. Armbruster and Ronald D. Knutson, 227-247. Springer Publishing.
Rouvière, Elodie and Julie A. Caswell. From Punishment to Prevention: A French Case Study of the Introduction of Co-Regulation in Enforcing Food Safety. Food Policy 37 (3):246-254.
Ruzante, Juliana Martins, Valerie J. Davidson, Julie A. Caswell, Aamir Fazil, John A.L. Cranfield, Spencer J. Henson, Sven M. Anders, Claudia Schmidt, and Jeffrey M. Farber. 2010. A Multifactorial Risk Prioritization Framework for Foodborne Pathogens. Risk Analysis 30 (5):724-742.
Caswell, Julie A. 2008. Expanding the Focus of Cost-Benefit Analysis for Food Safety: A Multi-Factorial Risk Prioritization Approach. Innovation—The European Journal of Social Science Research 21 (2):165-169.
Caswell, Julie A., Tanya Roberts, Elise Golan, and Elisabete Salay. 2008. The Interaction of Public and Private Incentives in Promoting Food Safety Innovation in the U.S. Meat Industry. In Handbook of Innovation in the Food and Drink Industry, ed. Ruth Rama, pp. 141-169. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press Inc.
Economics of Food Certification, Traceability, and Labeling
Galli, Francesca, Anna Carbone, Julie A. Caswell, and Alessandro Sorrentino. 2011. A Multi-Criteria
Approach to Assessing PDOs/PGIs: An Italian Pilot Study. International Journal of Food System Dynamics 2 (3):219-236.
Caswell, Julie A. and Sven Anders. 2011. Private vs. Third Party vs. Government Labeling. In The Handbook of the Economics of Food Consumption and Policy, ed. Jayson Lusk, Jutta Rosen, and Jason Shogren, pp. 472-498. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Johnecheck, Wendy A., Parke E. Wilde, and Julie A. Caswell. 2010. Market and Welfare Impacts of COOL on the US-Mexican Tomato Trade. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 35 (3):503-521.
Galli, Francesca, Anna Carbone, Julie A. Caswell, and Alessandro Sorrentino. A Multi-Criteria Approach to Assessing PDOs/PGIs: An Italian Pilot Study. Selected paper presented at the Societa’Italiana di Economia Agraria, XLVII Convegno di Studi “L’agricoltura Oltre le Crisi.” Campobasso, Italy, September 2010.
Souza Monteiro, Diogo M. and Julie A. Caswell. 2010. Economics of Traceability in Multi-Ingredient Food Chains. Agribusiness 26 (1):122-142.
Joseph, Siny, Nathalie Lavoie, and Julie A. Caswell. COOL Effects on U.S. Shrimp Trade. Selected paper presented at the annual meeting of the Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, Burlington, Vermont, June 2009.
Souza-Monteiro, Diogo M. and Julie A. Caswell. 2009. Traceability Adoption at the Farm Level: An Empirical Analysis of the Portuguese Pear Industry. Food Policy 34 (1):94-101.
Anders, Sven M. and Julie A. Caswell. 2009. The Benefits and Costs of Proliferation of Geographical Labeling for Developing Countries. The Estey Centre Journal of International Law and Trade Policy 10 (1):77-93.
Caswell, Julie A. and Sven M. Anders. The Economics of Market Information Related to Certification and Standards in Fisheries. Prepared for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Agriculture and Fisheries)/Food and Agriculture Organization, Round Table on Eco-labelling and Certification in the Fisheries Sector, The Hague, The Netherlands, April 22-23, 2009.
Joseph, Siny, Nathalie Lavoie, and Julie A. Caswell. 2009. Partial Implementation of COOL: Economic Effects in the U.S. Seafood Industry. Working Paper 2009-7. Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst. http://people.umass.edu/resec/workingpapers/documents/ResEcWorkingPaper2009-7.pdf
Souza-Monteiro, Diogo and Julie A. Caswell. Optimal Choice of Voluntary Traceability as a Food Risk Management Tool. Selected paper presented at the XIIth European Association of Agricultural Economists Congress, Ghent, Belgium, August 2008.
Impacts of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Regulations on International Trade in Food Products
Anders, Sven M. and Julie A. Caswell. 2009. Standards-as-Barriers versus Standards-as-Catalysts: Assessing the Impact of HACCP Implementation on U.S. Seafood Imports. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 91 (2):310-321.
Todd, Ewen and Julie A. Caswell. 2008. Role of Programs Designed to Improve the Microbiological Safety of Imported Food. In Imported Foods: Microbiological Issues and Challenges, ed. Michael P. Doyle and Marilyn C. Erickson, pp. 209-254. Washington, DC: ASM Press.
Caswell, Julie A. and Siny Joseph. 2008. Consumer Demand for Quality: Major Determinant for Agricultural and Food Trade in the Future? Journal of International Agricultural Trade and Development 4 (1):99-116.
Food Assistance Programs
Caswell, Julie A. and Ann L. Yaktine, eds. 2013. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Examining the Evidence to Define Benefit Adequacy. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.
Recent Activities
My teaching activities focus on the use of economic analysis to understand the food system and industries. In our undergraduate program, my Hunger in a Global Economy class explores the likely future balance worldwide between a fast growing population and possibly slower growing food supply. I also teach the Life is Full of Choices Integrated Experience Seminar for Resource Economics majors. In our graduate program, I team-teach courses focusing on the use of industrial organization economics to analyze the operation of the food system. I have taught graduate courses in the economics of food safety and competition policy in Italy, Poland, Brazil, and Spain.
In my outreach activities, I work with federal agencies, international organizations, and groups of researchers to produce economic analysis of the benefits and costs of government regulatory programs and private quality control programs for food products. This work includes consultations with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, National Academies, U.S. General Accounting Office, Congressional Research Service, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. I have participated in research on the economics of food safety conducted for the United Kingdom Food Standards Agency, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and Health Canada.
