Cost and affordability of healthy diets: Adoption and use of a new food security metric worldwide

Описание: Spring 2026 Harry ’51 and Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series

Speaker: Will Masters, Tufts university

Abstract: This talk will describe the development and use of benchmark least-cost healthy diets, relative to available income, as a new metric of food access and nutrition security. Since 2022 these data have been published by the World Bank and UN agencies for global monitoring, and by national governments to guide their own agricultural investments, food policy and social protection. The metric is a designed for comparison to actual consumption, as a diagnostic indicator to distinguish among three possible causes of malnutrition: (a) high prices or unavailability for items in each food group needed for health, (b) insufficient income to buy those items in sufficient quantities, or (c) displacement of affordable low-cost healthy diets by different foods consumed for other reasons such as taste and preferences, time use and meal preparation costs, or food culture and aspirations shaped by marketing. Underlying work with country partners is here: https://sites.tufts.edu/foodpricesfor..., and global monitoring results are here: https://worldbank.org/foodpricesfornu....

About the speaker: Will Masters is Professor of Food Policy and Economics at Tufts University. He is coauthor of the popular textbook Food Economics: Agriculture, Nutrition and Health (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024), and since 2020 has led the Food Prices for Nutrition project that introduced new metrics for the cost and affordability of healthy diets. He is an elected Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) and the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), and in 2026 was awarded the Swedish Royal Academy of Agriculture’s Borgström Prize for Global Food Security. Details at https://sites.tufts.edu/willmasters.

About the Seminar Series:
The Harry ’51 & Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series showcases innovative approaches to global development, featuring experts from around the world. Each year, the series attracts online registrants from more than 45 countries and over 350 organizations.

Seminars are held on Wednesdays from 12:20 p.m.–1:10 p.m. Eastern Time during the semester in Warren Hall 175. Students, faculty, and members of the public are welcome to attend either in person or via Zoom.

The series is co-sponsored by the Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment, and the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. It is offered in conjunction with courses GDEV 4961, AEM 4961, NTRES 4961, GDEV 6960, AEM 6960, and NTRES 6960.