Books

Books

Books for a Popular Audience

Unnaturally Delicious

Lusk, J.L. Unnaturally Delicious: How Science and Technology are Serving Up Super Foods to Save the World.  New York: St. Martin's Press, March 2016

forthcoming in March 2016 from St. Martin's Press.

Buy now from Amazon, Barnes&Noble, or Macmillian

Reviews

  • "A provocative, well-documented challenge to one of the major contentions of environmentalists." - Kirkus Reviews
  • "accessible, entertaining, and optimistic" - Publishers Weekly
  • "Technology and science have done the world of food far more good than harm.  Check out Jayson Lusk's Unnaturally Delicious for a superior vision of where food is headed." —Tyler Cowen, Professor of Economics, George Mason University
  • "Delightful and telling stories of students, farmers, scientists and businessmen forging ahead with science- and technology-based solutions to problems with our food system. Reason for optimism."  - Rachel Laudan, food historian and author of Cuisine and Empire
  • "Professor Lusk has written a wonderful book.  He tells stories to illustrate important facts and principles.  We (the readers) have fun and he has fun while we learn a lot in the process.  I will use this book for my student and buy it for my friends and relatives."  - Dan Sumner, distinguished professor of agricultural economics at University of California, Davis
  • see also reviews in Grist, Huffington Post, and in Popular Science

 

The Food Police

Lusk, J.L.  The Food Police: A Well-Fed Manifesto about the Politics of Your Plate.  New York: Crown Forum, April 2013.  

Buy now from Amazon, Barnes&Noble, or Random House. 

The Food Police Study Guide. 

Reviews: 

  • "The conclusions from [Lusk's] research will do more to advance healthy eating than would a nation of Mayor Bloombergs." - Jeff Stier in the New York Post.
  • "Lusk makes a strong case that the food police are a major obstacle to the kind of innovation we need. Their intransigence on many of the benefits of food modernization — from genetically modified food to industrial farming and synthetic fertilizers, and even modern conveniences such as large-scale grocery stores and today’s shipping methods — is the kind of thinking that will, as Lusk warns, ultimately doom us to poverty." - Julie Gunlock in The National Review
  • "Sometimes sacred cows must be slaughtered to get to the truth.  Lusk does that, and in a way that reads like a charming personal memoir by your favorite college professor." - Henry Miller at Forbes.com
  • "to newcomers who want the story of how a few cranks took over how a country thinks about food, The Food Police provides an excellent primer." - Center for Consumer Freedom
  • "This book is amazing at how it thoroughly describes the how the food police screw things up, increase costs, hurt the environment, and ultimately, cost us freedom." - Matt Rousu
  • "Whether or not readers agree with Lusk's on agriculture and the politics of food production, he will make you think about your food choices."  - Kirkus reviews

 

Advance Praise:

Jayson Lusk boils down and slices and dices the hypocrisy of liberals ever growing fetish with America's food in a way nobody has before. No empty calories in this expose. You'll be hungry for more.

                                                 --Andrea Tantaros, co-host of The Five on The Fox News Chanel

If you are looking for one book to set the record straight on the progress in America food, start here.

--Tyler Cowen, author of An Economist Gets Lunch and Professor at George Mason University

This is hard hitting and to the point. And scary. . . Chocked-filled with telling anecdotes, and informed by strong economic theory, Lusk offers a compelling expose of government misadventure that tends to hurt the very people whom it is said to protect.

--Richard Epstein, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law 

This is a wonderful and well-written book.  Reading it was a cathartic experience.  It packs an awful lot of common sense and clear headed thinking into a small space.  Lusk makes clear that a lot of what academics and politicians take for granted about our agricultural system is in fact nonsense.  It is tempting to dismiss the food police as well-intentioned, if not exactly well-informed about the science and economics of food production and consumption.   Lusk has reinforced my conviction that to ignore them would be irresponsible.  The food police have considerable clout at the highest levels of government and they think they know best about what everyone should eat, including you and me. If they get their way, they would put at risk the ability of our farms to produce healthy and nutritious food at a price the whole world can afford.

--Jay Bhattacharya, Associate Professor of Medicine, Stanford University

Compassion by the Pound

Norwood, F.B. and J.L. Lusk.  Compassion by the Pound: The Economics of Farm Animal Welfare. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2011. 

Buy now from Amazon

Reviews

Academic Books

Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Food Consumption and Policy

Lusk, J.L., J. Roosen, and J. Shogren. (editors)  Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Food Consumption and Policy.  Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2011. 

Buy now from Amazon or get individual chapters electronically from Oxford's website.

 Advance Praise

The economics of food consumption has become a major area of research in agricultural economics and consumer policy.  Lusk, Roosen, and Shogren have assembled an incredibly complete collection of critical assessments by virtually all the relevant scholars.  Their handbook provides an amazingly comprehensive assessment of current knowledge and is essential reading for anyone interested in these issues.

--Richard E. Just, Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland

This volume provides a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art in applied consumption and policy analysis.  The collection of distinguished researchers is unprecedented.  The volume will be an important resource to researchers, academics, and policymakers that are interested in current topics in demand analysis.

--Barry Goodwin, WM Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor, North Carolina State University

Experimental Auctions

Lusk, J.L. and J. Shogren.  Experimental Auctions: Methods and Applications in Economic and Marketing Research.  Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Buy now from Amazon. 

Advance Praise

These well-qualified authors provide a thorough treatise on the design and application of auction procedures as instruments for measuring the value of new or non-marketed commodities, rights and services - perhaps the most important development in experimental auctions since the first tests over 25 years ago.

--Vernon L. Smith, winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize for Economics and Professor of Economics and Law, George Mason University

Lusk and Shogren have developed an indispensable guide to an important methodology that is growing in relevance and significance in economics, marketing, psychology and public policy research. Their book is both technically strong and very accessible, even for the non-specialist. The authors have filled the book with interesting and compelling examples that bring the method to life and demonstrate its applicability. Any scholar interested in understanding how individuals value non-market options should have this book on their shelf.

--David W. Stewart, Robert E. Brooker Professor of Marketing, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California

Agricultural Marketing and Price Analysis

Norwood, F.B. and J.L. Lusk.  Agricultural Marketing and Price Analysis.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2007. 

Buy now from Amazon 

Reviews

James E. Epperson, The University of Georgia, Journal of Agribusiness, Read the review