Jayson Lusk

author of "The Food Police: A Well-Fed Manifesto about the Politics of Your Plate"

February 4, 2014

Dr. Jayson Lusk currently serves as Regents Professor and Willard Sparks Endowed Chair in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University and also serves as the Samuel Roberts Noble Distinguished Fellow at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. Since 2000, Lusk has published more than 140 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals on a wide assortment of topics. He has been listed as one of the most prolific and cited food and agricultural economists of the past decade, won numerous research awards, given lectures at over 30 universities in the US and abroad, published editorials in outlets such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes.com, Foxnews.com, TIME.com, Townhall.com and the Huffington Post, and has made TV appearances on Fox and Friends, the John Stossel Show, and Wall Street Journal Live, among others. Lusk has also served on the editorial councils of seven academic journals including the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management and consulted for various nonprofits, government agencies, and agribusinesses.

"The Food Police" questions some of the prominent, fashionable policies and fads advanced in the name of food sustainability. There are three main themes of the book. The first is that many food policies are advanced with an elitist perspective with little consideration for why people actually make the food choices they do; a prosperous path forward should respect market outcomes, individual liberty and private property. Second, the book argues for a return to evidence-based policy making; based on science and economic cost-benefit analysis. Finally, the book reminds people of what is good about modern production agriculture and argues that technological advancement in food and agriculture will be necessary if we are to sustainably meet the demands of a growing, hungry world.

URL: https://library.okstate.edu/news/celebratingbooks/2014-honorees/jayson-lusk

Last Updated: 14 January 2021