The stark observation of the coexistence of undernourishment, nutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity – the triple burden of malnutrition – is inviting us to reconsider health and nutrition as the primary goal and final endpoint of food systems. Agriculture and the food industry have made remarkable advances in the past decades. However, their development hasn’t entirely fulfilled hea...

More than three quarters of the world's suicides occur in developing countries, yet little is known about the drivers of suicidal behavior in poor populations. I study India, where one fifth of global suicides occur and suicide rates have doubled since 1980. Using nationally comprehensive panel data over 47 y, I demonstrate that fluctuations in climate, particularly temperature, significantly i...

Research Brief #9 In the face of an increasingly consolidated, industrialized, and often faceless food system, many researchers and activists have looked to alternative food institutions (AFIs) as ways to improve the food system for both producers and consumers. AFIs include urban gardens, food policy councils, alternative education programs, farmers’ markets, and community supported agricultur...