Staff Biographical Page: Laurian Unnevehr

Laurian Unnevehr Director Room N2168 1800 M ST, NW Washington, DC 20036-5831 lunnevehr@ers.usda.gov phone: (202) 694-5401 fax: (202) 694-5661

Briefly

Laurian J. Unnevehr is Director of the Food Economics Division. Laurian has published over 60 journal articles and book chapters on topics in consumer demand and food policy as well as numerous other publications and outreach reports. She is recognized for original contributions in measuring the consumer benefits from agricultural research, the changing structure of U.S. food demand, and the cost-benefit trade-offs in food health regulation. With coauthors, she has received the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA) awards for Quality of Communication and for Publication of Enduring Quality, recognizing contributions in food policy and food demand. Laurian was inducted as a fellow of AAEA in July 2009.

Background

Prior to coming to ERS to lead the Food Economics Division, Laurian was on the faculty of the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) from 1985 to 2008. On leave from UIUC from 1993 to 1995, she worked at ERS on food safety issues and also served as the initial director of the Food Economics Division. Prior to joining the UIUC faculty, she was a Rockefeller Social Science Post-Doctoral Fellow at the International Rice Research Institute in the Phillipines from 1982-1985.

Education

Laurian received her Ph.D. and M.A. from the Food Research Institute, Stanford University and her B.A. in economics from the University of California at Davis.

Professional Affiliations

Laurian is a member and past president of the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA), and a member of the International Association for Agricultural Economics (IAAE). Laurian is also on the Editorial Boards of the journals Food Policy and Review of Agricultural Economics.

Publications

See all ERS publications by this author >

Selected Recent Publications

Unnevehr, L.J. and E. Jagmanaite, "Getting Rid of Transfats in the U.S. Diet: Policies, Incentives, and Progress," Food Policy, forthcoming.

Regmi, A., Takeshima, H., and Unnevehr, L. Convergence in Global Food Demand and Delivery, USDA, ERS, ERR 56, March 2008.

Unnevehr, L.J., Pray, C., Paarlberg, R. "Addressing Micronutrient Deficiencies: Alternative Interventions and Technologies," AgBioForum, 10(3), 2007, pp. 124-134.

Unnevehr, L.J., "Food Safety as a Global Public Good: Is There Underinvestment?," in Keijiro Otsuka and Kaliappa Kalirajan (eds.), Contributions of Agricultural Economics to Critical Policy Issues. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007.

Roberts, D. and L.J. Unnevehr. "Resolving Trade Disputes Arising from Trends in Food Safety Regulation: The Role of the Multi-lateral Governance Framework," World Trade Review, November 2005, Vol 4(3): pp. 469-497.

Unnevehr, L. and H. Jensen. "Industry Costs to Make Food Safe: Now and Under a Risk-Based System," in Toward Safer Food: Perspectives on Risk and Priority Setting, S.A. Hoffman and M.R. Taylor, eds., Resources for the Future, 2005.

Unnevehr, L.J. "Mad Cows and Bt Potatoes: Global Public Goods in the Food System," Presidential address at 2004 AAEA Annual meetings, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, December 2004, pp. 1159-1166.

Unnevehr, L.J., "Case Study Commentary: Should Southland Foods Reformulate its Products?," Harvard Business Review, March 2004, p. 37.

Dawe, D., R. Robertson, and L. Unnevehr, "Golden Rice: What Role Could It Play in Alleviation of Vitamin A Deficiency?," Food Policy, Volume 27, Issues 5-6 , October-December 2002, pp. 541-560.