Fall 2021 | Course Looks at Food Demand and the Environmental, Social Costs

The Economics Department is offering a new series of 11 courses aimed at the heart of current events, both social and economic.

All of these courses are at the 2000 level, and there are no prerequisites. These 3-credit courses are open to all Ohio University students.

ECON 2510 Global and Local Food Economies

Each student in ECON 2510 Global and Local Food Economies will pick a country in a developing region of the world—such as Africa, Latin America or Asia—and study that country’s food production, population, economic growth, and more.

“By looking at publicly available data from sources like the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank, we can learn a lot about the current state of agriculture and food production, and we can see developing trends that can lead to food shortages or environment degradation,” says Dr. Julia Paxton, professor of economics.

“Students can easily discover that food production has both private and social costs, and quite often that food production results in negative impacts on the environment.”

Students also will look at food systems much closer to home, such as the Athens Farmers Market and local organic farms. And they will examine the effect of innovations and policies on food production.

Dr. Julia Paxton

Offered in Fall 2021

ECON 2130: Current Economic Problems—Dr. Harold Winter will cover crime and punishment, racial discrimination, smoking and addiction, and health insurance, and other important social and economic problems that face society today.

ECON 2200: Introduction to Data Analysis using Python—Dr. Olga Standrityuk introduces the Python programming language as a way to apply economic analysis and prediction techniques to real-world scenarios—as students develop policy recommendations based on real-world data sets. 

ECON 2400: International Trade Relations and Applications—Dr. Shamila Jayasuriya will look at world trade patterns and trade policies of both developed and developing nations—including tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers, industrial policies, and regional trade agreements.

ECON 2510: Global and Local Food Economies—Dr. Julia Paxton will take a look at the global and local food economy, including global food production and demand in the developing regions of the world, environmental degradation, food security, and local food distribution networks.