In June 2003, ERS hosted the workshop “Use of Scanner
Data in Policy Analysis.” As markets become more segmented
and contracts replace spot transactions, market operations
become less transparent, and the declining volume of available
data associated with those transactions become less representative
and therefore less useful for research. As a result, researchers
are increasingly turning to retail scanner data to decipher
market workings. Not only are such data plentiful (although
expensive), but, with links to demographics of individual
households, the data also provide a window on distributional
issues. The workshop provided a forum in which experts discussed
unique ways that scanner data permit researchers to address
today’s food policy issues. The voluminous quantity of
the data, while an asset, can make working with the data difficult.
Participants discussed various strategies of addressing methodological
challenges in using scanner data. David
Davis
Keeping Up with Obesity
Research
In
April 2003, ERS hosted the workshop “Economics of Obesity,”
jointly organized with University of Chicago’s Irving
B. Harris School of Public Policy. The workshop brought together
leading health economists from around the country along with
researchers from ERS and other Federal agencies with the goal
of reviewing the current status of economic research on obesity
and overweight and discussing areas for future research. Topics
covered included the role of technological change in explaining
both the long- and short-run trends in obesity, the role of
maternal employment in child obesity, the impact of obesity
on wages and health insurance, behavioral economics as applied
to obesity, and the challenges in measuring energy intakes
and physical activity. Jay Variyam
Agricultural Trade and
Policy Reform
In
June 2003, ERS cosponsored an international conference “Agricultural
Policy Reform and the WTO: Where Are We Heading?” The
workshop explored how changes in the global food and agricultural
sector, in response to new technologies and the evolving consumer
demand for food, affect the international trade environment.
Related policy dimensions discussed at the workshop include
agricultural policy reforms, WTO enlargement, new WTO negotiations
on agriculture, and regional integration, including the enlargement
of the European Union. The conference was cosponsored by the
University of California, University of Calabria (Italy),
and the Farm Foundation, and other institutions. Mary
Bohman
Effects of Invasive Species on U.S. Agriculture
Increased
global commerce has expanded the potential for invasive pests
to affect agriculture, prompting ERS to launch a research
program on the economics of policies to control invasive species.
To review and discuss research priorities for the extramural
competitive grants program, ERS, in collaboration with the
Farm Foundation, hosted a workshop on the economics of invasive
plant pests and animal diseases in May 2003. More than 100
representatives from higher education institutions, USDA,
other Federal and State agencies, industry, and nongovernmental
organizations participated in the workshop, providing perspectives
on bioeconomic risk assessment, links between trade expansion
and invasive introductions, and the economics of policies
to exclude, monitor, and control plant pests and animal diseases.
A summary of the workshop is available at the ERS
Invasive Species Management briefing room. Utpal
Vasavada
In
April 2003, ERS hosted the workshop “Economics of Obesity,”
jointly organized with University of Chicago’s Irving
B. Harris School of Public Policy. The workshop brought together
leading health economists from around the country along with
researchers from ERS and other Federal agencies with the goal
of reviewing the current status of economic research on obesity
and overweight and discussing areas for future research. Topics
covered included the role of technological change in explaining
both the long- and short-run trends in obesity, the role of
maternal employment in child obesity, the impact of obesity
on wages and health insurance, behavioral economics as applied
to obesity, and the challenges in measuring energy intakes
and physical activity.
In
June 2003, ERS cosponsored an international conference “Agricultural
Policy Reform and the WTO: Where Are We Heading?” The
workshop explored how changes in the global food and agricultural
sector, in response to new technologies and the evolving consumer
demand for food, affect the international trade environment.
Related policy dimensions discussed at the workshop include
agricultural policy reforms, WTO enlargement, new WTO negotiations
on agriculture, and regional integration, including the enlargement
of the European Union. The conference was cosponsored by the
University of California, University of Calabria (Italy),
and the Farm Foundation, and other institutions. 
Increased
global commerce has expanded the potential for invasive pests
to affect agriculture, prompting ERS to launch a research
program on the economics of policies to control invasive species.
To review and discuss research priorities for the extramural
competitive grants program, ERS, in collaboration with the
Farm Foundation, hosted a workshop on the economics of invasive
plant pests and animal diseases in May 2003. More than 100
representatives from higher education institutions, USDA,
other Federal and State agencies, industry, and nongovernmental
organizations participated in the workshop, providing perspectives
on bioeconomic risk assessment, links between trade expansion
and invasive introductions, and the economics of policies
to exclude, monitor, and control plant pests and animal diseases.
A summary of the workshop is available at the 
