Applied economics in the liberal arts: Teaching about food, health, and human welfare

Lindsey Novak and Amy Damon

No 359267, 2025 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 3-5, 2025, San Francisco, CA from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: We explore the challenges and opportunities of teaching economic tools to understand food and health-related issues in the context of two small liberal arts colleges. Students in our classes often arrive with a simultaneous interest in social justice and deep skepticism about economics and its ability to solve related issues. We use food and health topics to engage skeptical students and help them realize the power of economic thinking in application to themes they care deeply about and often consider outside the purview of economists. This paper discusses our pedagogical approaches, tailored to attract and retain a diverse student body, as well as some of the classroom challenges and successes we have experienced in this specific academic environment.

Keywords: Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/359267/files/Damon_Novak_manuacript.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:assa25:359267

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.359267

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in 2025 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 3-5, 2025, San Francisco, CA from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().