Julie A. Caswell
Professor and
Department Chair
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
Economics of Food Quality
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.
Rouviere, Elodie and Julie A. Caswell. From Punishment to Prevention: The Introduction of Co-regulation in the Enforcement of Food Safety Regulations. Selected poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Agricultural Economics Association, Orlando, Florida, July 2008.
Caswell, Julie A. and Helen H. Jensen. 2007. Introduction: Economic Measures of Food Safety Interventions. Agribusiness: An International Journal 23 (2):153-156. See also: Caswell, Julie A. and Helen H. Jensen. 2007. Co-Editors of Special Issue of Agribusiness: An International Journal on Economic Measures of Interventions. 23 (2):157-244.
Henson, Spencer J., Julie A. Caswell, John A. L. Cranfield, Aamir Frazil, Valerie J. Davidson, Sven M. Anders, and Claudia Schmidt. 2007. A Multi-Factorial Risk Prioritization Framework for Food-Borne Pathogens. Working Paper 2007-8. Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Garcia, Marian, Andrew Fearne, Julie A. Caswell, and Spencer Henson. 2007. Co-regulation as a Possible Model for Food Safety Governance: Opportunities for Public-Private Partnerships. Food Policy 32 (3):299-314.
Dolan, Megan M. and Julie A. Caswell. The Impact of the Organic Mainstream Movement: A Case Study of New England Organic Produce Prices. Selected paper presented at the annual meeting of the Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, June 2007.
Caswell, Julie A. 2006. A Food Scare a Day: Why Aren’t We Better at Managing Dietary Risk? Human and Ecological Risk Assessment 12:9-17.
Fearne, Andrew, Marian Garcia, Julie A. Caswell, Spencer Henson, and Yunus Kharti. 2005. Exploring Alternative Approaches to Traditional Modes of Food Safety. Final Report, Imperial College, London. Prepared for the United Kingdom Food Standards Agency under Contract D03004.
Golan, Elise, Tanya Roberts, Elisabete Salay, Julie Caswell, Michael Ollinger, and Danna Moore. 2004. Food Safety Innovation in the United States: Evidence from the Meat Industry. Agricultural Economic Report No. 831. Washington, DC: Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aer831/
Economics of Food Certification, Traceability, and Labeling
Souza-Monteiro, Diogo M. and Julie A. Caswell. In Press. Traceability Adoption at the Farm Level: An Empirical Analysis of the Portuguese Pear Industry. Food Policy.
Anders, Sven M. and Julie A. Caswell. In Press. The Benefits and Costs of Proliferation of Geographical Labeling for Developing Countries. Estey Centre Journal.
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.
Seafood Choices: Balancing Benefits and Risks. 2007. Report of 13-member Institute of Medicine Committee. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. http://books.nap.edu/catalog/11762.html
Grolleau, Gilles and Julie A. Caswell. 2007. Interaction Between Food Attributes in Markets: The Case of Environmental Labeling. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. 31 (3): 471-484.
Caswell, Julie A. 2006. Quality Assurance, Information Tracking, and Consumer Labeling. Marine Pollution Bulletin 53 (10-12): 650-656.
Fouayzi, Hassan, Julie A. Caswell, and Neal H. Hooker. 2006. Motivations of Fresh-Cut Produce Firms to Implement Quality Management Systems. Review of Agricultural Economics 28(1):132-146.
Souza-Monteiro, Diogo M. and Julie A. Caswell. 2004. The Economics of Implementing Traceability in Beef Supply Chains: Trends in Major Producing and Trading Countries. Working Paper 2004-06, Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
http://people.umass.edu/resec/workingpapers/index.shtml
Impacts of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Regulations on International Trade in Food Products
Anders, Sven M. and Julie A. Caswell. In Press. Standards-as-Barriers versus Standards-as-Catalysts: Assessing the Impact of HACCP Implementation on U.S. Seafood Imports. American Journal of Agricultural Economics.
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.
Caswell, Julie A. and Christian Friis Bach. 2007. Ethics, Globalization, and Hunger: Food Safety Standards in Rich and Poor Countries. In Ethics, Globalization, and Hunger: In Search of Appropriate Policies, ed. Per Pinstrup-Andersen and Peter Sandøe, pp. 281-304. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Sparling, David and Julie A. Caswell. 2006. Risking Market Integration Without Regulatory Integration: The Case of NAFTA and BSE. Review of Agricultural Economics 28(2):212-228.
Sparling, David and Julie A. Caswell. 2006. A NAFTA Approach to Animal Health and Biosecurity: Pipe Dream or Possibility? In Agrifood Regulatory and Policy Integration Under Stress. Proceedings of the Second Annual North American Agrifood Market Integration Workshop, ed. Karen M. Huff, Karl D. Meilke, Ronald D. Knutson, Rene F. Ochoa, and James Rude, pp. 109-133. College Station, Texas: Texas A & M University.
http://naamic.tamu.edu/sanantonio/agrifood_regulatory_and_policy_integration_under_stress.pdf
Caswell, Julie A. 2003. Trends in Food Safety Standards and Regulation: Implications for Developing Countries. In collection of Policy Briefs: Food Safety in Food Security and Food Trade. Laurian Unnevehr, editor. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
Recent Activities
I am currently serving as Chair of the Department of Resource Economics. 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. 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 am a senior researcher in the Food Marketing Policy Center, University of Connecticut and by subcontract at the University of Massachusetts. I am a founding member of the Food Safety Research Consortium, formed by seven leading institutions to develop improved risk analysis and analytical tools for food safety decision making, priority setting, and resource allocation. I have recently 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.
